Get Everything Done

+JMJ+

I've been using a version of this method for three weeks now, and it really is, even til now, fun for me as well as effective in getting things done. It is basically a free-form, capture-all notebook where the information written in it, unless acted upon, will expire in seven days, with SMEMA or some other three-task method being used for task management.

• Get a notebook and pen.
• Write/draw anything you can think of or need or want there.
• At the end of your list (is it still a list?! :P) write your three-task-method (see below).
• You can consult your Capture List to think of what to add to your SMEMA list, or not. It is not mandatory.
• You or course can write/draw anything after your SMEMA list. That is why it is recommended to use something to highlight your SMEMA list, for example a Post-It tab (which I use), to make sure you don't lose it in the chaos.
• At the end of the day, write a horizontal line at the end of your list and write "A" at the end of that line.
• Keep on ending each day with the horizontal line but write at the end the next letter in order up to letter "G", then start again with "A".
• Any information written above an old line with the same letter as was ended today (i.e. information more than seven days old) are to be deleted. You may want to transfer any relevant information to other lists/calendars/notes you have, or rewrite at the end of your list.

The original three-task-method I used before was SMEMA. In this method, here is how I used it:

- At the end of the list, write down three tasks with heavy dots in the beginning
- Do the first two in order, crossing them out when done.
- Delete the last task and rewrite it at the very end of your list again with a heavy dot at the beginning.
- Add two more tasks with heavy dots at the beginning.
- Do the first two in order, crossing them out when done.
- Delete the last task and rewrite it at the very end of your list again with a heavy dot at the beginning.
- Add two more tasks with heavy dots at the beginning.
- Ad infinitum.

I however stopped using SMEMA because it felt disruptive to rewrite the last task almost every time I have to remake the SMEMA list. I am currently using the following, which I call the Ordinal Triad (OT), which is another three-task system:

1) Go to the end of the list and mark three lines with heavy dots.
2) At the bottom (third) line write the task that you want to do.
3) At the second line, write the task that you want to do before the task you wrote before.
4) At the first line, write the task that you want to do before the second task.
5) Do all or part of each task from first to third in order, crossing out each one when done.
6) Once all of the tasks are done, go back to step #1.

I like this method better because it reminds me of FV and also exploits "structured procrastination" by making me think of things to do <before> doing the things I need to do.

+JMJ+

I think I was a bit unclear with the Capture-All notebook that I was using, sorry, let me clarify:

When I say a Capture-All, I MEAN Capture-All ^___^ I use the notebook for EVERYTHING, from jotting down ideas to writing info while on the phone to brainstorming to sketches to making a grocery list. The notebook is currently a mess of ideas, drawings, sketches, brainstorms, poems, prayers, quotes, phone numbers, and all kinds of other stuff.

To force myself to use it regularly, I am using a small notebook. The notebook previously was a 3"x5" tickler notebook. Here is a scan of it when I was on day 4 of using it: http://i994.photobucket.com/albums/af63/nuntym/Scan0002_zpsd7e5fa08.jpg . I however changed set-up on the second week, and now I am using a 3"x5" tickler-style unlined pad to facilitate nonlinear thinking.

With all of that in mind:

@psychowith6 (Oh I love your username) - previously it looked like a paper list, with the lined notebook; not so much now :)


@ubi

<<1. If you reserve the left margin for your heavy dots, and leave the rest of the notebook entries within the margins, wouldn't that obviate the need for the post-it tab? Just scan backward until you see your three dots in the margin.>>

Well, if you are using a bigger notebook, it will probably work. However, as you can imagine from my set-up and how chaotic my notebook is, it is not practical for my own use.

<<2. How are you getting on with the 7-day dismissal process? Are you rewriting much? Do you actually cross out the old stuff, or rip pages out of the book? After review, it seems that you could just draw a vertical or diagonal line through the middle of the dismissed pages and leave them be, for archival purposes.>>

Yeah I write a diagonal line across the pages dismissed, then transfer what I can crossing those out when done, cross out the irrelevant info, then leave the rest. From my experience, most of the things that I write become irrelevant after a week, and those I cross out. The others I sometimes rewrite, especially some lists of items I need to buy or acquire, refining them as I rewrite them at the end. Some others I transfer to my smartphone's calendar, contacts, or notes. Finally, I rarely leave some untouched in the dismissed pages, especially the "maybe/someday" items.