Get Everything Done

Here's an alternative method to FV, AF, etc., that helps me to keep up with *all* of my tasks every day. It works best with the Clear app for iPhone, or some other electronic implementation that makes it easy to move tasks around and toggle their active/inactive state.

The Objective is to touch (i.e. process) each task at least once before the day has ended. It's fine to touch some tasks more than once, following the little-and-often principle.

The setup at the start of each day is a dividing line at top, the list of tasks, and another dividing line at bottom. Everything should be active (lit not dim in Clear).

New tasks entered today go at the bottom, below the line. Normally these will be handled tomorrow, but anything urgent may be moved up above the line, to any position in the list.

This method will only work if you manage your time. I recommend having two timers at the ready, one for minimum and another for maximum time to be spent on any task action. I suggest only 1 minute for the min timer. The max timer depends on your total number of actionable tasks today, how much discretionary time is available, etc.

Here are the steps:

Step 1. Scan entire list & count tasks. Move anything urgent up to the top (below the top dividing line). You can also rescan & move urgent stuff at various times of the day, e.g. after a long break or meeting. Consider carefully what your max timer will be, based on the length of the list and your situation today.

Step 2. Now process the list in order, from the top down. For each task, the action taken depends on the answer to three questions.

Q1: Is it okay to delete this task? If so, done! (swipe-left in Clear)
Q2: Is this task out of context at the moment? If so move it up above the dividing line. (touch-drag in Clear)
Q3: Do you feel high resistance (i.e. don't really want to do this now)? Then suck it up and do a little bit anyway. Set min timer. Have a blank sheet of paper at the ready. Rephrase or break the task down into smaller subtasks if necessary. (swipe-right in Clear to dim task and move to bottom of list)

Otherwise ("No" to all three Qs), this is something you really want to do now, so set max timer and get going. Delete if done or reenter if more work is needed when the timer goes off. (swipe-left or swipe-right in Clear)

Step 3. When the top and bottom dividers meet, move the top divider all the way up, and reactivate all the inactive tasks at the bottom. (swipe-right from bottom up in Clear)

Congratulations! Everything has been touched today, but you should consider whether any of the out-of-context tasks have now become actionable, and whether any of the reentered tasks (below the bottom divider) need more work today. Pull whichever tasks you choose up to the top position prior to working them. You're in the bonus round, so all is good.

Step 4. When you're ready to call it a day, reset the list by making sure every task is still actionable (lit not dim in Clear), and the divider lines are moved to the top and bottom. Ready for tomorrow!

Lillian,

Yes, the top divider is just for separating out-of-context tasks (i.e. things you cannot physically take action on at the moment) from the list you are processing. Previously, I would move these items to a separate list, which is cumbersome (especially in the current version of Clear). Just moving them above the line keeps them in the same order, so this trick works for FV processing as well (for root task preselection). Mark recommends rewriting at the end of the list, but I like to have the oldest unactioned stuff at the top. In TATT, moving the task above the line counts as a 'touch' but you should consider doing at least a little something on it if the context changes later in the day.

I'm still using TATT, but have come up with a modification to

Step 2. [. . .] Delete if done or reenter if more work is needed when the timer goes off. (swipe-left or swipe-right in Clear)

For an important task, it may be necessary to do several rounds on it today. So instead of waiting until the lines meet (Step 3), if you know you need to do more on something today, reactivate the task immediately in Step 2, before going to the next task, and move it up above the lower divider. This can be done in Clear by tapping the bottom of the screen to scroll all the way down, then swiping right on the bottom-most task (that was just dimmed), and touch-hold-dragging to move it up. Alternatively, one could just touch-hold-drag it down in the list after each round, instead of swiping right to dim it.

Is anyone else trying out TATT?

Mark,

I bought and read DIT, but don't have GED yet. Since you haven't published a book on FV (and I haven't yet hit the Donate button), I decided to order GED in dead-tree paperback form – it's not available as a Kindle ebook. It's due to arrive in a few days – looking forward to some new/old wisdom.

Still using Clear app for iPhone. Figured out how to do TATT with less fiddling. Here are revised instructions.


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TOUCH ALL TASKS TODAY (TATT)
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Here's an alternative method to FV, AF, etc., that helps me to keep
up with *all* of my tasks every day. It works best with the Clear
app for iPhone, or some other electronic implementation that makes
it easy to move tasks around and toggle their active/inactive state.
(Gesture hints for Clear are indicated in [square brackets] below.)

The Objective is to touch (i.e. process) each task at least once
before the day has ended. It's fine to touch some tasks more than
once, following the little-and-often principle.

The setup at the start of each day is a dividing line at top, the
list of tasks, and another dividing line at bottom. [everything
should be lit not dim]

The idea is that anything that can't be done due to context (place,
available time, resources, etc.) will end up above the top divider
for later reconsideration, anything newly added or recurring or
continuing will end up below the bottom divider for action tomorrow,
and everything in the middle ("between the lines") will get some
action today. Since everything is between the lines at the start
of the day, you will touch all tasks today (TATT). This is a good
thing, better than merely scanning & scrolling through a long list.

New tasks entered today go at the bottom, below the line. [tap
bottom of screen to scroll all the way down; tap again near bottom
to start entry] Normally these will be handled tomorrow, but
anything urgent may be moved up above the bottom divider. [touch-drag]

This method will only work if you manage your time. I recommend
having two timers at the ready, one for minimum and another for
maximum time to be spent on any task action. I suggest only 1 minute
for the min timer. The max timer depends on your total number of
actionable tasks today, how much discretionary time is available,
etc. I like 7 minutes max, but often violate the timer and work a
bit longer before moving on.

Here are the four steps:

Step 1 - SETUP. Scan entire list & count tasks. Move anything
urgent up to the top (below the top dividing line). You can also
rescan & move urgent stuff at various times of the day, e.g. after
a long break or meeting. Consider carefully what your max timer
will be, based on the length of the list and your situation today.

Step 2 - DO. Process the list that is between the lines in
order, from the top down. For each task, the action taken depends
on the answer to three questions.

Q1: Is it okay to delete this task? If so, done! [swipe-left in
Clear]

Q2: Is this task out of context? If so move it up above the dividing
line. [touch-drag]

Q3: Do you feel high resistance (i.e. don't really want to do this
now)? Then suck it up and do a little bit anyway. Set min timer.
Have a blank sheet of paper at the ready. Rephrase or break the
task down into smaller subtasks if necessary. [swipe-right
to dim task and move to bottom of list]

Otherwise ("No" to all three Qs), this is something you really want
to do now, so set max timer and get going. Delete if done or reenter
if more work is needed when the timer goes off. [swipe-left or
swipe-right]

Before continuing, reactivate the [dimmed] task at the bottom (if
it wasn't deleted/finished). [swipe-right] Consider now
whether the task needs more work today; if so, move it above the
bottom divider. [touch-drag]

Step 3 - ASSESS. When the top and bottom dividers meet, scan the
(formerly) out-of-context tasks at the top. [tap top bar to scroll
all the way up] Move any that can still be done today down between
the lines (keeping the same order though). [touch-drag] Back to
Step 2.

Otherwise, Congratulations! Everything has been touched today.

Step 4 - RESET. Move the divider lines to the top and bottom.
[touch-drag] Ready for tomorrow!
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