Discussion Forum > Roll the Dice
I do that sometimes too. If I'm using a list online, it's usually in Excel, so I set up a formula to give a random number between 1 and whatever number the last task. The clock idea is interesting too
January 19, 2012 at 14:29 |
Lillian
Lillian
I would often use a dice (or even multiple tosses of a coin to binary-chop) through my today tasks when using DIT. I saw it as an extreme way of convincing myself that if my only criterion was to get through today's stuff and sequence was irrelevant, then I could surrender all control of sequence.
January 19, 2012 at 17:24 |
John Angus (Anguish)
John Angus (Anguish)
January 20, 2012 at 13:45 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
I remember ads for that movie.
The difference is, I take full responsibility for loading the list in the first place.
It's like driving drunk. You choose to drink. You choose to drive drunk. You choose to drastically increase the risk to yourself and others. It's not the beer's fault.
John, I think you're right. It does force me to think more carefully about "if I let the die make all the decisions, based on this list..." If the list is bad, garbage in = garbage out.
Further refinement:
A block of low-priority tasks has appeared. I lump them into one item. If that item is chosen, I roll again to choose between. Depending on the day, I might then remove the rest of that block from the list.
Some tasks are higher priority, so I mark them in the margin and count them twice. That way I have twice as much chance of doing them. This is both urgent tasks (that I don't want to promote to "just do") and undated tasks that keep getting put off.
The difference is, I take full responsibility for loading the list in the first place.
It's like driving drunk. You choose to drink. You choose to drive drunk. You choose to drastically increase the risk to yourself and others. It's not the beer's fault.
John, I think you're right. It does force me to think more carefully about "if I let the die make all the decisions, based on this list..." If the list is bad, garbage in = garbage out.
Further refinement:
A block of low-priority tasks has appeared. I lump them into one item. If that item is chosen, I roll again to choose between. Depending on the day, I might then remove the rest of that block from the list.
Some tasks are higher priority, so I mark them in the margin and count them twice. That way I have twice as much chance of doing them. This is both urgent tasks (that I don't want to promote to "just do") and undated tasks that keep getting put off.
January 20, 2012 at 15:28 |
Cricket
Cricket
Other times....
I make a list of what I want to do in the next few days. I try to put more important ones on top, but it's not strictly necessary. It's rarely more than 20, often under 10.
Then I roll a die. (Actually, I look at a clock that shows seconds and subtract 20 until I get something between 1 and 20.)
There's a reason I don't role one die 3 times. Rolling a 6-sided die 3 times gives no 1 or 2, very few 3, but many of 13's.
I count down unactioned items. When I reach the end of the list, I go back to the top. Tasks on the top are more likely to get action, which is why more important ones go to the top.
Something about rolling the die takes the decision out of my hands and breaks the analysis-paralysis. Some days I think Someone is guiding the die for me. Other times it's an excuse to work on something I enjoy when I think I should work on something else instead (in which case I usually end up doing nothing).
I'll often use "first on list" at the start of the day, then roll the die for a few choices, then do the stuff that really should be done before the kids get home.