;)
Mark Forster is the author of three books about time management and personal organisation. The most recent, Do It Tomorrow, was published by Hodder in 2006.
Monday, September 7, 2009 at 12:24 A couple of news items:
The first translation of AF4 is into Chinese (traditional). Many thanks to Catus Lee.
There is a brilliant file by Andreas Hofmann which gives an animated version of my demonstration of AF4. This is an absolute must for quick understanding of the system. Many thanks, Andreas, this was a huge undertaking.
Saturday, September 5, 2009 at 12:38 I must admit that by the time yesterday’s demo was finished I felt very tired. This was a surprise to me because normally AF4 is a very restful way to work, and I use it all day as a matter of habit. I hadn’t allowed though for the extra energy required by the fact that it was a performance!
Another factor was the extra overhead through working the system as a blog entry. Although I spend a huge amount of time each day on my computer, I really do not like using it for a To Do list (of whatever type). I find paper and pen much quicker and easier, and it has a meditative natural quality about it which the computer entirely lacks.
There were certain “extras” necessary for demonstration purposes. I had to number items, change from normal to italic, to bold, to strikethrough and so on. As my regular readers know, I abhor having to annotate entries, so I found the extra fiddling with each task a real strain.
So the whole thing seemed much more like hard work yesterday than it normally does. I was also conscious that having an audience changed what I was doing. I did an impressive number of tasks yesterday, but they are probably not quite the same ones that I would have done if I’d been working normally.
And I’m still trying to work out how to get back to my usual way of working. I feel that yesterday disturbed things, and put them out of their rightful sequence. I think for list purposes I am going to pretend yesterday never happened. I will just pick up my written list from where I left it two days ago.
Saturday, September 5, 2009 at 10:34 Here are the preliminary instructions for AF4 as demonstrated yesterday. I will write them up in more detail later, but basically everything you need to work the system is here.
I will give the system for paper and pen, but it is easy to adapt the system for electronic use.
You will need a ruled notebook.
1) Draw up your list of things to do with one task per line. (If you already have a list you can continue to use it). You don’t need to put everything on the list at this stage as you can add other tasks as and when you think of them.
2) Draw a line at the end of the list. Everything before this line is known as the Backlog. As you think of new tasks add them after the line. Everything after the line is known as the Active List.
3) You start with the Backlog. Look through the tasks in the Backlog in order and work on any tasks which feel ready to be done. Delete each task when you feel you have worked on it for long enough, and re-enter it at the end of the Active List if you need to do more work on it.
4) When you come to the line, do not go into the Active List. Instead return to the beginning of the Backlog and continue to move through it in it doing any tasks which feel ready to be done. Keep circulating in this way, until you have done a complete pass through the Backlog without any tasks being done.
5) You now cross the line into the Active List. Move through the Active List in order working on any tasks which feel ready to be done.
6) When you reach the last task on the list, you then go back to the beginning of the Backlog and repeat the process from Step 3.
7) When you have crossed off all the tasks in the Backlog, you draw a line at the end of the Active List and this now becomes the Backlog.
So just to recap:
Your list is divided into two parts, the Backlog and the Active List. You circulate round the Backlog until no more tasks seem ready to be done. Then you do one pass through the Active List. After that you return to the Backlog. Once you’ve done every task in the Backlog, the Active List becomes the Backlog and you start a new Active List.
Deleting undone items
After you have been working on the Backlog for some time it may be reduced to a few tasks which for some reason or other you are reluctant to tackle. At this stage you may find that when you go back to the Backlog from the Active List you do a complete pass of the Backlog without doing any of the tasks.
If this happens, you should delete all the remaining tasks in the Backlog using a highlighter instead of a pen stroke, and then proceed as in Step 7 to make the Active List the Backlog.
The next time you come to the beginning of the list, you should finally cross off the highlighted tasks by deciding what to do with each one in turn. You may elect to abandon it, re-enter it on the Active List (with or without re-phrasing), or put it into a reminder system for review at a later date. In making the decision what to do with each task, you should look at the reasons why you haven’t done it yet.
Other implementations
It’s perfectly acceptable to use sheets of ruled paper rather than a notebook. You need two lists, a Backlog and an Active List. If you have undone items to review as in the previous paragraph, you will need to keep the old Backlog list until this has been done.
Electronic implementation is easy, as seen on my example yesterday. Rather than use Strikeout for actioned items, you can simply delete them. There’s no need to put new tasks in italics - I did that purely for demonstration purposes. You might want to use Bold for the current task, as it helps to find your place again.
Mark Forster
There is a brilliant file by Andreas Hofmann which gives an animated version of my demonstration of AF4. This is an absolute must for quick understanding of the system. Many thanks, Andreas, this was a huge undertaking.
Friday, September 4, 2009 at 23:07 Here is the list after today’s work. Tasks in italics were added today. Compare it with the list at the start of today
Note that there are only 26 tasks left unworked on of the orginal 75 tasks.
Check details needed by Travel Agency
Card for L
Weed Noguchi
Aeneid
“Then She Found Me”
Write E-book
Write M
Camera Manual
Return chalk to T
Brain trainer
German 24/3
Mow Lawn
Sort out Google bar
Blog “7 Habits of Poor Time Managers”
“Saraband”
Write
Reading List (oldest)
Reading List (newest)
G replied?
Walk
Tax Return
Photo Galleries
Squarespace Videos
Journal 10+Paper
“Top Gear”
Change Wallpaper
Autopager?
Firefox extension name?
Voicemail
Lowest Point Forecast
Doodle
PhotoPlus Manual
“Taxi Driver”
Cancel Avon Policy
Check Porsche Tyres
Check Polo Service
Tidy Office
Make Bed
Facebook
Bureau Top Tidy?
Investment Managers
Carswell
Diaries of Adrienne v. Speyr?
RegZooka
Pitch C#
Write Henry
Voicemail
Ordo
Wash Up
Check BP
Check weeding schedule for old accounts
Find Phone Number for Ben’s Gutters
Prepare papers for Phoenix signing
Check domain hosting records
“Fanny Cradock”
Spanish 13
SpyZooka
Newsletter Template
Portuguese 17/2
Try out issuu.com
Reading List (quality)
Email (2057)
“Fleurs du Mal”
“The Cell”
Friday, September 4, 2009 at 8:00 Key:
Tasks on list at start of day
Current Task
Actioned tasks (numbered in order of completion)
Tasks added during day
[Tasks marked for review]
—————————— = Start of Open List
(1156) timed log entry (at end)
THE LIST
13 Cancel Insurance Policies (1018)
15 Write Henry S. (1053)
[Contribute to P & Y’s Charity]
10 Buy Guillotine
[Weed Old Accounts]
[Ring Ben’s Gutters]
[Get Phoenix Insurance Claim signed]
[Investigate ways of marketing and selling E-book]
[Approaching businesses?]
11 Photo Plus Manual
[Sort out Domain hosting]
14 Photos for Facebook
12 “Taxi Driver”
[“Fanny Cradock”]
[“I Know Where I’m Going”]
[“The Edge of the World”] [1452][1534]
——————————————
Check details needed by Travel Agency
56 Schedule for Newsletters?
16 Restaurant for L’s birthday?
Card for L
Weed Noguchi
57 Portuguese 17
Aeneid
“Then She Found Me”
Write E-book
Write M
67 Read “Ultra Simple Guide”
Camera Manual
Return chalk to T
Brain trainer
17 Tidy Office
68 “Fleurs du Mal”
18 Make Bed
German 24/3
19 Facebook
50 Spanish 12/2
Mow Lawn
Sort out Google bar
Blog “7 Habits of Poor Time Managers”
“Saraband”
Write
20 Bureau Top tidy?
21 MicroPlaza
Reading List (oldest)
Reading List (newest)
G replied?
22 Desk tidy?
23 Exercise
Walk
Tax Return
Photo Galleries
Squarespace Videos
47 Check BP
Journal 10+
24 Investment Managers
25 RegZooka
26 Cut Hedge
27 NumberWatch
28 Carswell
69 “The Cell” (2300)
Paper
1 Comments (0800)
2 Voicemail
29 Fix date for lunch with Carol N
3 Email
4 FTSE (0833)
“Top Gear”
5 Lowest Point Forecast
30 Back Up
31 Reading
6 Doodle
Change Wallpaper
58 Reading List (quality)
7 Pitch C#
8 Wash Up
Autopager?
Firefox extension name?
9 Comments
Voicemail
32 Email
33 FTSE
Lowest Point Forecast
Doodle
34 Pitch C#
35 Wash Up
36 Comments (0904)
PhotoPlus Manual
“Taxi Driver”
Cancel Avon Policy
48 To Think About
37 L replied re Henry?
38 L replied re restaurant?
Check Porsche Tyres
Check Polo Service
Tidy Office
39 Read Newspaper
40 Check Site Visitors for today
Make Bed
Facebook
51 Find Driving Licence
Bureau Top Tidy?
52 Regenerate Friend Wheel
41 Ordo
Investment Managers
Carswell
59 Carol N replied re lunch?
Diaries of Adrienne v. Speyr?
42 Lunch
53 SpyZooka
RegZooka
54 Reading
Pitch C#
Write Henry
55 Book restaurant
43 Reserve District 9 and Tricks
44 Comments
45 Wash Up
46 Email
Voicemail
56 Site Visitors
Ordo
49 Comments
Wash Up (1450)(1709)(1847)(1849)
—————————————————
Check BP
60 Email
61 Comments (1528)
Check weeding schedule for old accounts
Find Phone Number for Ben’s Gutters
Prepare papers for Phoenix signing
Check domain hosting records
“Fanny Cradock”
Spanish 13
62 Tweetdeck
SpyZooka
63 Reading
64 Site Visitors (2046)
Newsletter Template
Portuguese 17/2
Try out issuu.com
Reading List (quality)
65 Email
66 Tweetdeck
Email (2057)
“Fleurs du Mal”
“The Cell”
0800. The list is divided into two unequal parts, divided by a line ———————. Different rules apply to each part. I am starting where I left off yesterday, near the end of the list. The method here is to move down the list taking action on those tasks which feel ready to be done. I will number tasks in the order they are done so you can follow the sequence. The numbers in brackets after some tasks are times, and refer to the log entries at the end of the list (of which this is the first).
0833. This is reminding me why I hate using electronic means of working a to do list! It’s slowing me down no end. The Squarespace editor is also being annoying - a blank line has appeared in the middle of the list which I don’t seem to be able to get rid of. Never mind!
0904. I’ve now reached the end of the list. My next action is to go to the beginning of the list - into the part of the list before the line (——————). Oooooerrrr!!!
1018. Within the first part of the list, I keep circling round the list until nothing further seems ready to do.
1053. I’ve now been round the first part of the list three times, and there’s nothing further that seems ready to do. So now I start on the second part of the list. I only do one pass of this before going back to the first part.
1450. Now reached the end of the list for the second time today. So back to the first part of the list (the “backlog”)
1452. None of the tasks in the “backlog” stand out for action so I have marked them all up for review (on paper I would have used a highlighter for this). At the same time I have drawn a line at the end of the list so that the whole current list becomes the “backlog”. All new tasks will now go below this line.
1528. Now reached the end of the list for the third time today. Notice how fast I moved through the list this time. Back to the beginning of the list.
1534. What I have now done is delete all the items marked for review. You will see that I have re-entered some after rephrasing them. One I have re-entered as it was (A recorded TV program that I haven’t yet had time to see). The rest I have dropped altogether because I decided the time wasn’t yet ripe for them.
1709. Reached end of first part of list - back to the beginning. On another subject, this page has been loaded 5,973 times today (and it wasn’t all by me!)
1847 End of first part of list again - back to beginning.
1849 I’ve been round the first part of the list again without any tasks seeming ready to do - so on to the second part.
2046. Page has been accessed 7,507 times today.
2057 Reached the end of the list again. Back to the beginning. I’ll select a next task, but what I’m really going to do is go and watch NCIS on tv!
2300 That’s it for today. 70 tasks completed. 8,604 page views. I hope that’s given everyone a good idea of how powerful the system is. Now I’ve just got to copy everything I’ve done today back into my paper notebook!
(Comments on this post are now closed. If you can’t see the existing comments, click on the post heading “Working Live Today”)
Mark Forster
There is a brilliant file by Andreas Hofmann which gives an animated version of this demonstration. This is an absolute must for quick understanding of the system. Many thanks, Andreas, this was a huge undertaking.
Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 22:35 This is the list which I will be working on tomorrow. I’m posting it here as a matter of record so it can easily be compared with how it looks at the end of tomorrow.
This particular post will remain unchanged. The actual working list will be published at 8am UK time (3am EST) tomorrow (Friday):
Cancel Insurance Policies
Write Henry S.
Contribute to P & Y’s Charity
Buy Guillotine
Weed Old Accounts
Ring Ben’s Gutters
Get Phoenix Insurance Claim signed
Investigate ways of marketing and selling E-book
Approaching businesses?
Photo Plus Manual
Sort out Domain hosting
Photos for Facebook
“Taxi Driver”
“Fanny Cradock”
“I Know Where I’m Going”
“The Edge of the World”
Check details needed by Travel Agency
Schedule for Newsletters?
Restaurant for L’s birthday?
Card for L
Weed Noguchi
Portuguese 17
Aeneid
“Then She Found Me”
Write E-book
Write M
Read Gerald Coleman’s “Ultra Simple Guide”
Camera Manual
Return chalk to T
Brain trainer
Tidy Office
“Fleurs du Mal”
Make Bed
German 24/3
Facebook
Spanish 12/2
Mow Lawn
Sort out Google bar
Blog “7 Habits of Poor Time Managers”
“Saraband”
Write
Bureau Top tidy?
MicroPlaza
Reading List (oldest)
Reading List (newest)
G replied?
Desk tidy?
Exercise
Walk
Tax Return
Photo Galleries
Squarespace Videos
Check BP
Journal 10+
Investment Managers
RegZooka
Cut Hedge
NumberWatch
Carswell
“The Cell”
Paper
Comments
Voicemail
Fix date for lunch with Carol N
Email
FTSE
“Top Gear”
Lowest Point Forecast
Back Up
Reading
Doodle
Change Wallpaper
Reading List (quality)
Pitch C#
Wash Up
All my actioned tasks are not shown on this list, but it’s worth bearing in mind that I normally work with paper and pen so that deletions from the list are still visible.
Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 12:40 Tomorrow I am going to try something entirely new (to me) by working my Autofocus list on-line so that you can see how it should be done.
I will start the day off by posting my current list on this blog - and then every time I take action on a task or add a new one I will up-date the post. That way you will be able to keep track of exactly what I am doing at any given time.
I will be using the new unreleased Version 4, which I am currently testing, so you can see how fast and powerful it is.
Timings (very approximate):
Start: 8am UK Time
Finish: 11pm UK Time
I hope the exercise will show the following:
- the speed and flexibility of the system
- the various levels at which I enter tasks
- the nature of the tasks which are suitable for an Autofocus list
I will also leave Comments open so that hopefully a dialogue will develop about what is happening.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 22:03 I was interested to read in the papers recently that some research had shown that people find it very difficult to walk in a straight line in uncharted territory. Most of us in such a situation would aim for a landmark in the distance, but this still results in considerable wandering off the straight. The result is that when you reach the landmark you may be pointing quite a few degrees off course, and the next landmark you pick will not be on the original line.
The secret, known to people like the Native Americans, is to line up two landmarks. When you do this you can easily proceed in a straight line just by keeping the two landmarks aligned. When you reach the first landmark you know you are facing in the right direction so all you have to do is to pick another landmark.
It struck me that this applies to how we go about getting to our goals in our business or personal life. If we aim for just one landmark we are likely to wander about and end up facing in the wrong direction. If we line up two goals then we are much more likely to proceed in a straight line to our desired result.
Let’s give an example of this. We often hear that networking is very important for building a small business. So some people go overboard with networking. They join networking associations, attend lots of events, talk to loads of people, and may even organise their own events.
Then they become disillusioned because their business, far from expanding, is suffering from the amount of time they spend away from it at networking events.
What has gone wrong?
The answer is that they have only lined their actions up on one landmark. They have taken on board that “networking is good” and have therefore lined up on the networking landmark:
——————-> Networking
The result is that they have just concentrated on doing more and more networking without really considering what the purpose of it all was.
If they had remembered that the purpose of the networking was to expand their business they would have approached the networking in a different more focused way:
——————-> Networking ——————-> Business Expansion
As an exercise, you might take a look at some of your goals to see whether they are properly lined up. For instance what might the difference be between these two?
——————-> MBA
——————-> MBA ——————> Promotion to Higher Management
or these two?
———————> Going to gym
———————> Going to gym ———————> Increased energy for work
Wherever you suspect that an activity which should be supporting a higher goal is taking on a life of its own, it’s a good idea to carry out this lining up exercise.
Monday, August 31, 2009 at 16:33 I’ve written many times over the years about the correct way to clear a backlog:
1) Isolate the backlog
2) Get the system for handling new stuff sorted
3) Keep working away at the backlog
People who don’t know this method usually try to clear a backlog by using step 3 on its own. But without doing step 1 first, all that will happen is that the backlog will fill up as fast as you clear it. Even if by some heroic effort you do succeed in clearing the backlog completely, if you haven’t done step 2 you will have a new backlog within days.
This backlog method can be used in many ways which may not be obvious on first sight. Here are a couple of examples:
Tidying an Office
You need to tidy your office. What is untidiness but a backlog of tidying? So carry out the three-step procedure.
1) Dump everything that is out of its proper place (or doesn’t have one) in a pile in the middle of the floor.
2) Work out a routine for cleaning and tidying your office every day. Stick to it religiously.
3) Work on clearing the pile bit by bit.
Getting out of Debt
What is debt but a backlog of money? So three steps to getting out of debt.
1) Consolidate all your debt into one loan, and refuse to take on any more debt of any type.
2) Cut your expenditure so that you can live within your income.
3) Make regular payments towards paying off the loan (capital as well as interest).
I am now working on a time management system which extends this principle to our normal daily work - even where there isn’t a significant backlog. It’s so far proving very powerful. More details soon!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 13:10 Hungarian, Russian and Spanish versions of the Revised Autofocus instructions are now available. Many thanks to the translators: Adam Schmideg, Dorinem and Walter.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009 at 17:34 Chinese (traditional) and Dutch versions of the Revised Autofocus instructions are now available.
Many thanks to Catus Lee and Evelien Fick.
Saturday, August 1, 2009 at 15:41 French, Italian and two Japanese versions are now available of the Revised Autofocus instructions.
Many thanks to Lionel Bruel, Romano, Hayashi Hideaki, and Jun Funai for their hard work in producing them.
Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 13:44 Chinese (simplified) and German versions of the Revised Autofocus instructions are now available. May thanks to Andreas Hofmann and Qinyuan Feng for doing these so quickly.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 16:34 How do you choose what to eat from an extensive menu? Some people find it very difficult to choose from an extensive range of dishes which all sound delicious, and I used to be among them. I was always worried that I was going to miss something really great, so I would weigh up the pros and cons for each choice and usually choose at the last moment just as the waiter was losing his or her patience. The trouble with this method was that, in spite of all the time I spent chosing, I often found that what my companions were eating seemed much nicer.
Then I had a period when I used to choose completely at random. I just jabbed my finger at the menu and ordered whatever it landed on. This led to several memorable experiences, but also to some dire ones!
But lately I’ve taken to much more intuitive method of choosing. I read down the list of possible dishes, then read through it again slowly until one of the dishes stands out and I select that one. It’s an easy way to choose and I’ve never yet regretted the choice I’ve made by doing it that way.
If you’re an AF aficionado this will remind you of the way in which we chose the next task in AF. Whether we’re in Forward or Reverse Mode, we are reading through a list of tasks until one feels ready to be done.
However there is one big difference - when chosing off a menu we intend to eat one dish and not eat the others. With the AF list we intend to do all the tasks sooner or later - so our choice is usually about what order to do the tasks in.
However it is quite possible to use AF to make choices of the menu type. Suppose we have decided to take our nearest and dearest out for a meal. Imagine there are three possible restaurants. To make the choice between them all you have to do is put three tasks on your list:
When one of these tasks stands out, book the table at that restaurant and delete the other two.
You can use the same method for almost any choice you have to make.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 11:57 Just received the Brazilean Portuguese translation of my book “Get Everything Done”. At last a translation of one of my books into a language I can make a shot at reading!
It’s beautifully produced. The only trouble is they’ve spelled my name wrong!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 10:33 The first translation of the Revised Autofocus System instructions is in Estonian. A fantastic effort by Kristjan Otsmann!
Translations of the instructions are very welcome. You can either send them to me or (preferably) put them on your own website and send me the link.
Can we beat the 16 translations that were done for Autofocus 1? They were Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.
All were done by volunteers acting on their own initiative.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 11:32 This is a major revision of the Autofocus System which greatly increases its effectiveness.
Japanese Version I Version II
You are recommended to read these instructions through once in order to get an overview and then to follow the step-by-step “Getting Started” section at the end.
Outline
Autofocus consists of one long list of everything you have to do. As new things come up you add them to the end of the list. There are three modes by which you work through the list. These are Reverse Mode, Forward Mode and Review Mode.
Reverse Mode
As the name implies, in this mode you are working from the end of the list backwards. The end of the list is where newly entered tasks are to be found. Reverse Mode is intended particularly for taking action on the more urgent tasks which appear on your list, though it is by no means restricted exclusively to urgent tasks. You always start the day in Reverse Mode.
Forward Mode
In this mode you are working from the beginning of the list forwards. This is primarily intended for taking action on less urgent tasks which have not been dealt with by Reverse Mode, though it is not restricted exclusively to non-urgent tasks.
Review Mode
At the beginning of each day a few of the tasks which have been on the list longest are put on notice for review. If no action is taken on them during the course of that day, then they are highlighted for review and no longer count as part of the active list. They may only be put back on the list once they have been reviewed.
Detailed instructions
Reverse Mode
You always start each new day in Reverse Mode.
Starting from the last task on the list, you read each task until you come to one that you feel is ready to be done. You work on this task for as long as you feel like, and then delete the task from the list.
If you have not finished the task, then re-enter it at the end of the list. If a task is a recurring one (e.g. email), then you should also re-enter it at the end of the list.
Once you have done this, repeat the process starting again from the last task on the list.
N.B. You always return to the end of the list after finishing work on a task.
Forward Mode
Include the task “Change to Forward Mode” on your list.
From Reverse Mode, you switch to Forward Mode when you come to this task and it feels ready to be done.
In Forward Mode you work in a quite different way from Reverse Mode.
In Forward Mode, you move forward through the list on a page-by-page basis. Go to the first page on which there are any unactioned items. Read through all the unactioned items on the page once without taking action on any of them. Then read through them again and take action on any that feel ready to be done.
Keep circling round the same page until no more tasks feel ready to be done. Then move on to the next page and do the same again.
The signal to move back to Reverse Mode is when you come to a page and don’t do any of the tasks on it. This rule does not apply to the last page of the list - the one on which you are currently entering tasks.
When you return to Reverse Mode, re-enter the “Change to Forward Mode” task on the list.
Notes:
1) Whenever you come back to Forward Mode from Reverse Mode, you start again from the first unactioned item.
2) If you cannot do any tasks on a page because of your location (i.e. it’s physically impossible to do them), then you can skip the page and continue in Forward Mode.
3) If you are still in Forward Mode when you reach the last page of the list, once you have finished working on that page start again from the beginning of the list (i.e. the first unactioned item).
Review Mode
At the beginning of each day, the first contiguous block of unactioned tasks is put on notice for review (this may be one or more tasks). To signal this a line is drawn below them.
Any of these tasks remaining unactioned at the beginning of the next day are put on review. The recommended way of doing this is to highlight them.
These tasks are now treated as deleted, and they may not be re-entered on the list until they have been reviewed. This is done by putting “Change to Review Mode” as a recurring task on the list.
In Review Mode you may re-enter any or all of the highlighted tasks onto the list (see below for guidelines). Highlighted items which have been re-entered should be crossed out so that you know not to include them in subsequent reviews. You should also cross a task out if you decide not to review it again.
Once the review is complete, re-enter the “Change to Review Mode” task on the list, and go back to whichever mode you were in previously.
Guidelines for Review Mode
Please take the rule seriously not to re-enter these tasks before they have been reviewed. Putting tasks on notice for review is one of the most powerful parts of the Autofocus system, and not doing it properly will affect the workings of the whole system.
When in Review Mode you should consider carefully why each task was put on review , whether it really needs to be done at all, whether the time is ripe for it to be done, whether it distracts from your main goals, and any other relevant factors. When you do re-enter a reviewed item, it is often a good idea to break it down or re-phrase it in some way.
Getting Started
Sample Page
For an example of one of my own unedited Autofocus pages click here.
Notes to the sample page:
1) The date is written in the extreme left-hand margin next to the first item for that day. In this case it is 21/7 (which for Americans would be 7/21).
2) The day number only is written to the left of deleted tasks. I write these as a batch at the beginning of each day. Hence you will see that there is one deleted task (Article for “Eaglet”) which has no number against it. That’s because it was done during the current day.
3) Deleted items are crossed out with a single straight line. When I start on an item I put a dot next to it in the margin (you can see where several of them were). This helps me to commit to the task, and also find my place. When I have finished action on the task I draw the line from the dot.
4) Contiguous deleted items are joined with a vertical line. This makes it very quick to identify where unactioned tasks are located on the page.
5) You can see that on two occasions there are lines going right across the page. These are the lines which mark off tasks which are have been placed on notice for review. There was only one item on notice today and that was the previously mentioned Article for “Eaglet”.
Of course there is no need to put in the dates if you are not interested in keeping statistics.
Note that I don’t put any tags, priority signs or category marks on the tasks, so the page remains quite clean in appearance.
Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 12:24 A Simplified Chinese version of AF2 is now available off-site at Google Docs.
Thanks to Qinyuan Feng for the translation.
Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 16:59 
This is in fact the genuine first page of a new list which I started two days ago to experiment with a method of combining AF1 and AF2, but it is identical to what a page would look like for AF2 alone.
Note the following features:
1) The date is written in the extreme left-hand margin next to the first item for that day. In this case it is 21/7 (which for Americans would be 7/21).
2) The day number only is written to the left of deleted tasks. I write these as a batch at the beginning of each day. Hence you will see that there is one deleted task (Article for “Eaglet”) which has no number against it. That’s because it was done today.
3) Deleted items are crossed out with a single straight line. When an item is started I put a dot next to it in the margin (you can see where several of them were) and draw the line from the dot when the task is completed.
4) Contiguous deleted items are joined with a vertical line. This makes it very quick to identify where unactioned tasks are located on the page.
5) You can see that on two occasions there are lines going right across the page. These are the lines which mark off tasks which are “on notice” for dismissal. There was only one item on notice today and that was the previously mentioned Article for “Eaglet”.
Of course there is no need to put the dates if you are not interested in keeping statistics.
Note that I don’t put any tags, priority signs or category marks on the tasks, so the page remains quite clean in appearance
Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 15:35 I think that one of the tendencies that most of us have to fight against is the tendency to overcomplicate things. I’ve tried with all my time management systems to design them so that they are as simple as possible and need the minimum of “props”. Yet I’ve noticed that one of the first thing that happens when I issue a new system is that an army of people descend on it and think up ways to make it more complicated.
What are the advantages of simplicity versus complexity?
To answer that, just think of a few things which people by and large really hate:
Then think of a few simple solutions which suddenly cut through all the complexity:
Now please note that a simple system for the user may be the result of a very complex process. To produce any of these three examples of simplicity required a lot of thought and a lot of very sophisticated technology. But because the manufacturers were thinking “How simple can we make this?” the end result was something that revolutionises its field.
So a good question to keep asking yourself is “How simple can I make my life/my business/this particular project”? This is not “simple” as in living in a cave eating vegetables, but “simple” as in “makes it easier to do it than not to do it” or “makes it easier to do it right than to do it wrong”.
