Great Expectations

“If only I’d used Autofocus”.

Yet more testimonials

Another selection of comments about Autofocus. These ones have been received since the last selection. As usual I have not attributed them, but you can find any of them in the original context by using the search box at the top of the left-hand margin.

“The interesting thing about being addicted to the MF Discussion forum, and spending several hours per day scouring the posts, is that in the 4 days of using AF, I have been more productive, felt more free with my creativity and been a better all around human being to my wife and animals than I have been in months. Possibly years.”

“I’m only on day 3, but I feel I’ve gotten more done with AF with less stress. With GTD (which I used for a couple of years), I spent a lot of time worrying about the order of things on my list. With AF, that stress is gone. I work on things when they stand out (typically “I feel like it”, but sometimes “It has to be done now”). The intuitive nature of AF really appeals to me.”

“It is this ability that the AF system gives me to work much more intuitively that is really doing it for me. I genuinely feel that I am calmer, less stressed and more in control of everything since implementing it.”

“While I still have room for improvement, I am finding I’m consistently doing more work on things before they are due and chipping away at stuff I’d normally ignore through extreme procrastination. I never finish my closed lists anyway so I’m not missing out on that satisfaction! I feel better about myself because I do far less procrastination (and will hopefully eliminate it all together once the system finds equilibrium - ie I’ve caught up with my backlog, readjusted to a more sustainable workload and find myself regularly working on things before they are urgent).”

“Here is what I have found so far, in my first week of using AF. 1) It’s so easy to use that I don’t have to worry about being too invested. I didn’t have to buy software or change any major habits. 2) I’m feeling much more “laid back” about my work as I’m doing it. Perhaps it’s because I’m not forcing myself to do things, and I’m allowing myself to do things partially and then come back to them later. 3) I know what to put on the list and what I need to do when I look at it; it is making me trust myself more. And no, I don’t have a million undone projects lying about. 4) When I do my other, scheduled, non-AF work, I am also more “laid back” because I am not worrying as much about all the stuff I have to do - somehow I know that, yes, I do have a crushing number of tasks waiting for me, but once I turn my attention to them, they will be dealt with in an efficient and intuitive manner. 5) I’m no longer watching the clock all the time. I was in the habit of using my kitchen timer a lot and this week I haven’t needed it. I enjoyed using the timer but I must confess that I feel FREE now; work doesn’t feel as much like “Work” and I’m in a flow state more of the time. And oh, did I mention that I have gotten a huge amount done and unsnagged some very important projects these past few days? Thanks very much, Mark!”

“The feeling of flow is brilliant, I don’t think I’ve ever worked so comfortably and consistently. It’s amazing when you break down that procratinating feeling!”

“I have my own business, a lot of family commitments and I’m studying a Master’s degree at uni. I can’t help but have too much on my plate, but what I like about AF is that it lets you keep a lot of projects moving along and I’m not feeling so stressed that projects I care about are slipping through the cracks.”

“I have now been trying the AF system since the first day of testing and I am filled with awe and amazement for how well it is working. By doing things “little and often” I have made strides on projects that had languished for months, if not longer. Many minor but still backlogged items have now been tackled and crossed off the list.”

Reducing Resistance

One effect of the constant cycling through items which is part of the Autofocus system is that this very process reduces resistance to the more difficult tasks.

To obtain this effect it is important that you don’t just look at a page in general and cross a few items off. Instead you need to follow the instructions and move slowly down the page pausing at each item until one “stands out”.

You can actually measure this effect for yourself. As an experiment the next time you put a task on the list that you know you may have trouble doing, mark the task out of 10 for the amount of resistance you feel towards it. Then every time you pass that item again, re-mark it. You will probably find that the resistance gradually lowers.

This is also one of the reasons why items which still have high resistance should be dismissed in Autofocus. There may well be deeper reasons why you are resisting this item. Therefore it’s important to review dismissed items regularly to see if you can identify why each one is causing you to resist it so much.

Oliver's Busy Day

How one person managed to transform his day using Autofocus!

Thanks to A Reader from Sweden for drawing my attention to this.

Autofocus compared to DIT

Some people have commented that they are thinking of staying with Do It Tomorrow rather than change permanently to Autofocus because one is more certain of getting important tasks done quickly.

I’m certainly not going to quarrel with anyone who uses DIT - it’s still an excellent system - but my own experience has been very different.

With DIT the maximum number of tasks I ever processed in one day would have been around 35-40. Of those probably 5 or less would have been “same day” tasks. There would also frequently have been days on which I didn’t get through the list and had to carry tasks forward to the next day.These would probably average out at about 5 tasks. So the speed of movement for DIT would have been something like this:

Day 1                        5 tasks

Day 2                      30 tasks

Day 3 onwards         5 tasks

Total:                      40 tasks

With Autofocus the spread is different. Taking a typical day last week, the breakdown was:

Day 1                      25 tasks

Day 2                      30 tasks

Day 3 onwards       11 tasks

Total:                      66 tasks                   

Autofocus not only is capable of dealing with a higher volume of tasks than DIT, but also has a faster average response time per item (1.3 days, as compared to 1.5 days for DIT).