Get Everything Done

Hi Mark,

I used to do this back in the day, list my tasks in Excel and use the random number generator therein to select a task. If I started by not complee a task, I would readd without crossing off, so t had a greater chance of getting selected.

Yikes, meant to say if I started but did not complete a task it would have a greater chance of being selected

Hi Mark
As per your getting every done book's tip, I use playing cards. I modified it. If I'm overwhelmed with many highly consequential deadline jobs, I simply choose 3 to start and I choose one that seems the most anxiety provoking. Aces - 4 cards. Then I choose 2 more MIT's. Queens - 2 cards and Jacks - 2 cards and 1 or 2 jokers for my choice. Sometimes the overwhelm dissipates enough where I can go back to usual MITs on my list.

If I complete a task or category, I remove the remaining cards. Until each of the 3 MITs have progressed. I take a break and do it again until I feel ok enough to just use a list. If I have many concurrent highly consequential deadlined jobs, this helps to dissipate the anxiety. Also, sometimes only crunching hard for longer hours helps also. My goal is to arrive at enough calm so that I can eat my dinner in peace. Sometimes that means not eating until about midnight. LOL! Eventually things start evening out and I can go back to a normal work pace. I especially love it when there are actual lulls. LOL!

p.s. typo
Getting Everything Done (and still have time to play)

Hi Mark
I like the cards. They are tactile and they add the spirit of gamification. Plus I don't have a smart phone. Sometimes the jobs have lots of different elements which also involve depending on others' actions to move it along. I'm visual so sometimes I'll set up 2-3 separate workstations with magnetic boards to keep track of everything especially pending and follow up. When I have to stop a job because I'm waiting on another person to do their bit, I'll move on to another job and work on it until I'm stuck waiting on another person. When I've gone as far as I need to or I'm stuck waiting on somebody else, I'll pack of that job and get another one progressed. If there wasn't others involved, it would be a hell of a lot easier.

I try to prioritize moving the jobs along as I'm able to get other's to do their part. Sometimes putting a fire under their butt doesn't work as well as I'd like so I'll just go onto another job.

I try to juggle between the impact and importance of the job, the deadline of the job, the amount of time for my work and the amount of time needed to get others to do their part. It's mostly a guessing game when you're dealing with other people. Of course they're unlikely to care as much as you do so you have to keep notes on when they promised something and when to push them some more.

The cards help when I'm looking at all of these jobs that require work and dealing with others yet I have to make sure that the deadlines are met. I already have my habits of working. Random times would frustrate me even worse. I just use my calendar, notes, the work itself and keep plugging away with breaks so that I don't totally lose it. Luckily things aren't always that frantic. I curse myself when my disabilities get in the way. LOL! If the pain dissipates enough, I'll continue working even if it's 2:00am to keep on schedule. When I can't, I'm just stuck being helpless especially when I have surguries. That totally puts a spammer in the works. The world doesn't care about any excuses. Sometimes I just have to pay the price. That's why I work so hard when ever I can so that I don't lose too many battles! LOL!

Your card trick definitely helps to reduce the anxiety. Thanks for the trick! Luckily it's not always like this. I'm happy when I can go back to business as usual. LOL! 2013 was Annus horribilis and 6 days into 2014 looks like more of the same. * sigh * Something has got to give! LOL!

p.s. I don't necessarily recommend working 12-13 hour stretches all the time. I'm just obsessive. I have a couple more surgeries and I'm hoping that I can get some things settled before then but life doesn't always work out that way. The surgeries always interfere with my work. I try to do as much as possible well before hand. Sometimes it helps. Usually, I prefer to do my weekly DIT in a more rational manner using my normal habits. Even then, sometimes the card trick helps when I'm stalemated. When I'm in enough pain, I don't want to do anything. I have to force myself because I can't concentrate well with the pain and taking drugs makes me even more of an idiot! Using the cards forces me to man up. When the pain abates or the drugs start wearing off, I double check my work for errors. That's usually the joker card. LOL!

hi Mark
thanks for the good wishes.

I learned with the card trick to always add at least one joker. If all of the cards have high anxiety work, I won't play the game. LOL! The joker adds the possibility of me choosing the freedom to choose something less onerous.

Lots of my work isn't on the computer. Lots of legal stuff still uses old fashioned paper and old fashioned mail system. PITA! LOL!

I'm not sure of what you mean about randomly choosing projects not to do. I wouldn't be working on it if I didn't have to do it. Sometimes I'm forced to lose some but I'd never willingly choose to default on my obligations.

Like you, I'm stumped on what on the guy using randomness to choose his future.

When I was in the workforce and totally wiped out, I'd go buy a cup and coffee and just drive randomly. It was relaxing and sometimes I'd discover places that I'd like to further investigate. I had to remember to only drive only so far out so that I could get back home within an hour or so. Sometimes, I'd choose to take a chance on eating a meal in an interesting looking eatery. Since I live near the ocean, I'd find these great raw bars to check out. I love raw bars! LOL! I love your Beatles' reference. What a great way to think of it. I just thought of it as winding down enough to go home with less burdens of the job weighing me down. The disabilities make driving difficult. I genuinely miss car rides for the sake of it: not to get anywhere specific. I love that you named it the mystery tour. Add some Steppenwolf, and I'm with ya!

Hi Mark
I only use the card game for obligations. I prefer to free wheel it otherwise. LOL! I usually have a pretty good sense of how I want to spend my free time. Of course, my silly brain is always generating lots of possibilities. I already know that I can't entertain the thought of possibly doing all of them. So far as other people trying to obligate me, I'm pretty good at saying No. LOL!

In the US, a lot of legally binding stuff is still in paper form. In fact yesterday, I was at UPS submitting a document. Today or tomorrow, there are more. PITA. I do as much as possible on internet ….when I'm allowed.

LOL about the comments coming up 3 times. I only have 1 or 2 jokers per 11-12 cards. That ensures that I get the MITs done more quickly. When I take a break, I can do a combo of recurring stuff and goofing off. Then back to another round of 4 aces, 2 queens 2 jacks and 1-2 jokers until I feel ok enough to just work off of the list. I'm dreading 8am. That's when I have to start cracking...

Hi Mark
You are far more lucky than I am! I worked almost 5 hours straight and didn't get a joker. I just took a break even though I didn't finish all of the cards. Now I get a break. I still feel overwhelmed so I'll do another round with the same card distribution. This time I'll add another joker. I hope I can get at least one joker the next 4 hours. GEEZ! LOL!

For me anyway, the magic element of randomly choosing the cards is that I'm not dreading anything specific! LOL! And I have 1 or 2 jokers in there. That gives me the hope of not doing only my dreaded work. Unfortunately I don't always draw a joker per work session. I'm ashamed to admit it but I don't put any small or recurring stuff on my MITs even when I'm doing my ordinary DIT (weekly plus daily focus). I just bundle them and treat them as a respite to give my brain a rest from the highly focused, high anxiety work. When my obligations aren't this crunched and it's only a matter of a bad attitude, I use the card trick for the same purpose. When I don't know what I'm drawing, there isn't any dread focused on particular work. I can simply curse and moan while I'm doing whatever I drew. If I'm close to finishing a unit of work, I'll just press on to get it out of the way today. I pretty much know when I've done enough for today. Unfortunately I don't always get that relief in under 8 hours. If I can't stand the worry, I'll just prime the deck and work into the evening and night. The next day, I'm grateful that I did it....unless the next day puts even more crap on my back! LOL! Since Oct 02, I've felt like Sisyphus. There has got to be a stopping point eventually or at least a lull. I hate the feelings of futility that I'm feeling. I dread checking email, answering the phone or getting my mail. At least Sunday doesn't have any incoming! LOL! I just keep telling myself that eventually all of this crap will be out of my active memory. That hopefulness gives me impetus to keep trying. LOL!

Hi Mark
I just thought of something. Does the randomizer keep the tasks circulating rather than eliminating them as you work on them? I like that the cards go to the discard rack so that I know that I'll likely draw at least all 3 MITs for that round. I usually draw a joker during a time block. Unfortunately, sometimes I don't get the joker. If the randomizer keeps circulating the same work such as getting 4 comment cards only half way through the day, then the actual progress might suffer. That would only add to my anxiety and I'd find myself ignoring the easy card. My way, I know that I'll make good progress on at least one or two of the MITs. During 4 hours, I'm highly likely to choose more than 4 aces. I'll get at least one queen or jack or joker.
Because I didn't get any jokers last round, I've added a joker for the simple reason that I'm envious that you got 4 jokers and I got none! "T'aint fair!" LOL! Well I only have 18" more minutes until the next block. (I give myself an hour to do the little stuff and recurring stuff plus some pure goof off time before I start the next time block.) Fingers crossed that I get a joker in the mix!

Mark, thanks for a fun idea or two to start 2014. An amusing variation is to put your favourite music playlist on "shuffle" and be alert to synchronicities.

"Random" may of course just be a label for unknown causes, like luck maybe.

Hi Mark
WooHoo! I got a joker! Load of laundry going in while I do bills. That is so relieving to to this instead of the other stuff for awhile. I love the jokers. There's one more in there. Fingers crossed.

I renamed "Site A" to "Flibblesville" and accidents dropped to zero. Clearly the new name encourages better driving!

Sounds like Demings work on Quality. I believe it works like this (I'm not an expert, just fascinated by it) What you look for in a set of data is variability. If the variability is within a certain range, it's random, I believe Deming called this common cause variability. So if you look at 5 intersections and they all have between, say 15 and 20 accidents per year, that's common cause variability. Of course, the strategy is to reduce the number of accidents at all 5 intersections, but putting a camera on the intersection with 20 accidents won't address the "core" problem. However, if a 6th intersection has 60 accidents, then this is called a special cause varation because the data is so far outside the regular stream. You would need to look at this intersection more carefully to find out why there are so many accidents at this particular intersection.

There are two circumstances where traffic cameras might work. First, to reduce the average number of accidents per intercection from, say, 15 to 5, you could try installing traffic cameras at each intersection and track the data. This may be a way of addressing the common cause variability. Or, if one intersection did have 60 accidents, you might install a traffic camera at that intersection to see if you could get the data under control, or perhaps there is another reason for the anomaly.

This is important for management because so often we confuse special cause variability with common cause variability. We make changes to an individual intersection when what needs to be addressed is the whole system, or, we initiate a systematic change across the whole system when the problem is just one intersection. That's why I believe data is so important.

Hi all
I can't be the only one who drives more carefully where I know there are cameras. *guilty!* A few acquaintances have complained to me about tickets they've received for speeding, running red light and one made an illegal U turn. They got no sympathy from me. All of these cameras are in or very close to our neighborhood. LOL! What did they think would happen? In my state, you have to pay a surcharge for three years on top of a one time penalty when you accrue enough traffic violation points. I'm never in that much of a hurry! If others are like me, the cameras play well to our frugality. Some people here are on 6 months suspended license for....accumulated traffic violations points! I thought only drunk drivers got their license suspended.

It used to be seeing a cop car on the highway or following somebody who had the guts to own a speed trap dectector even though it's illegal in some states. The highway traffic would reduce from 75 - 80 miles per hour down to posted limit of 55 mph! LOL! I think those cameras have the same effect. Who wants to pay a surcharge for three years because they kept ignoring the cameras?

Hi Mark: How do you tell the difference between special cause and common cause variability? Believe it or not, there's a mathematical formula for that, it has to do with the distribution of data over time. If you can imagine a graph of data points along an axis over time, say 12 months. Within that date you can draw a straight line which represents the mean value, kind of a mid-point through all the data. That mean value is the result of a formula based on the data. Two other calculations are possible: an upper control limit and a matching lower control limit. This calculation will give you two lines above and below the mean value. (FYI, the formula is simple: usually standard deviation +/- 3) Any data point above or below those two lines represents a possible special cause and should be examined individually for the causes. There may not be any special cause, but nevertheless it would be wise to examine it and figure out the cause. In the cases of the other data points, time would be better spent looking at the system as a whole and make improvements on the system. Improvements on the system are designed to minimize the distance between the upper and lower control limits ("getting the system under control") and then lowering the mean value ("improving quality"). I believe this is the essence of 6 sigma.

The graph I asked you to imagine is called a control chart, and an example of one is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Xbar_chart_for_a_paired_xbar_and_R_chart.svg

Here is an article about how to create a control chart. Try it!

http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Control-Chart

Others can explain this better, this is totally not my field. Please forgive me if I've gotten it wrong.

I've tried this a few times with the original AutoFocus (AF1). It's a great way to break down resistance and get moving on different projects, especially when you are in a rut and no activities look appealing. I haven't been able to sustain it for more than about a week though. First, once you get moving on a few random tasks, after several days you "know what you want to do" (ie keep working on some of the random items). Also, I find that in a lot of cases, for every AutoFocus task I complete, another two are created. As you keep working on things the list just fans out and gets larger and larger. If you have 100 items on your list and are processing 10 randomly every day, a feeling of frustration can set in when you realize a preferred activity will only come up once every 10 days on average, and you have no way of "getting to" that item because the random number generator is "in charge" (ha ha).

Actually, the realization that the AutoFocus list was always going to fan out and get larger and larger made me take an approach of every week condensing the list down to about a page, resulting in an iterative process of working and consolidating, working and consolidating etc. Condense the list on Saturday to a page of around 30 items. Work the list as normal from Sunday to Friday. The following Saturday the list will be about 4-5 pages, so condense it back to 1 page, then repeat the process. Use random numbers if necessary to start on something.

Hi Seraphim
What's wrong with rolling the die or dice is that each roll is a virgin roll. Was was a craps croupier in my past. Example: You could roll 10 12's in a row. Contrasting a deck of cards, in which you can track them and adjust the odds. That's why they have 6 decks in a shoe and shuffle them after dealing only a few decks. When I'm forcing myself to get stuff done, I want to make sure that I can stack the deck to my favor yet still have some randomness. People don't realize that the dice odds are based on each roll or an infinite amount of rolls. IOW, each roll of the dice is a virgin roll. Mark got 4 jokers in only 1/2 a day. With my dimishing pile of cards, there was no way I'd get so many jokers because I only had 1 or 2 jokers. Or you could break down the work into smaller units but that would require more times of having to draw cards/numbers. My way, I choose a job and work on subtasks until I choose another card (which could be a repeat. LOL!) My aim is to use the game to get me more willing to start and to spend as little time as possible getting the work done. That's why I prime the deck.

I've spoken before about the similarities between using systems for productivity and using diets for weight loss. In both cases there is a feeling of overwhelm and increasing loss of control of tasks / weight. We know we need to work more efficiently / eat better. Despite knowing this we still continue procrastinating / eating poorly because there is an immediate neurological payoff.

Diets can be effective because you outsource your food habits to the rules of the chosen diet programme. Similarly productivity systems can be effective because you outsource your task processessing to a chosen rules based system. By outsourcing the decision process you are freed from the guilt of continuing with poor choices and the productivity / diet system takes over a large part of the decision process.

In both cases the systems can work for a while then start to fail. This is because we learn to game them and push against the system's inherent weaknesses. For diets, surely one cake is okay, and for productivity I'll do that awkward task after I've just spent another hour watching television. These individual pushes are okay by themselves but they represent a change in attitude to the system which can ring alarm bells as it suggests the poor decision making processes are slowly being taken back from the system in order to once again experience the immediate gratification feeling.

The most common result is "falling off the wagon" (Dave Allen cheerfully uses this exact phrase, somewhat cunningly encouraging people back to GTD) followed by a new diet / productivity system - this is a new approach, it is definitely The One! I've lost count of how many times I've done this.

It's interestng to read Seraphim's experience under stress - he started looking for a fresh system which would address the creep. But he caught himself doing it and said "NO!" and drew closer to his system, which takes some willpower, like sticking to a diet that already works rather than looking for a new one. The stress was the trigger which caused a flight response, looking for safety in a new hiding place.

The use of random selections is interesting because it's the ultimate sacrifice of decision making, and it works if you have the willpower to stick to what the selector says. If you find yourself picking another card or rolling the dice again to try and get another task then your gratification habits are making themselves known again - time to really knuckle down and focus on the good results from the system as the payoff instead. That takes real willpower and a longer term vision as to what you want.

I've been through my story before. I've tried lots of productivity systems (and lots of diets!) over the last 25 years until, like Serpahim, I said to myself "This is just going over old ground, I'm not doing this any more". At that point I abandoned all diet and productivity rules based systems and changed to a combination of getting my head down and getting on with doing things and eating correctly, and using a simple text list to keep track of a few things. The relief at the time, from dropping what felt like baggage, was amazing and since then this way of living has just become normal.

I think it's fascinating just how powerful the immediate gratification can be and how we can construct supporting environments to help control them. When done right they are incredibly helpful and lots of experimentation and experience helps to tailor the most useful concepts which stay with you forever.

Hi Chris
Congrats on your mastery! However, it's not so easy for many people. You said

"The relief at the time, from dropping what felt like baggage, was amazing and since then this way of living has just become normal."

Even before the brain damage, my brain was never like that. Unless you have the same type of hard-wiring, you can't begin to realize what it actually feels like. I have managed to enjoy some accomplishments despite having this life long battle. Trust me. Continuously forcing myself to do what I want to get done yet hating the process has always been the most challenging part of the battle. I'm not the only one. People only see what you've accomplished. They aren't aware of the daily grind of forcing yourself to do what your brain is begging you to avoid.

After the cognitive reconstruction therapy, my brain's capacities improved somewhat but the damage made the challenge of fighting my brain's tendencies much harder to do. I came to Mark's site in desperation because I couldn't think or do as I used to. I learned principles and work arounds that have helped tremendously. I only wish I had learned them 50-60 years ago, especially little and often and not needing to work my list in order.

It's not so much "instant gratification" as it is profound relief. It's incredibly difficult to fight against seeking relief when your brain's response is making you feel agonizingly restless. These work arounds may seem silly to you but them are a lifesaver to me. They help me to follow my conscientious with far less of a cognitive battle to keep approaching what my brain is registering as "avoid! avoid! pain and anxiety ahead!" LOL! I'd still do my work even if I didn't learn these tricks. However, these workarounds greatly reduce the stress and mental fatigue. It may seem silly to you but it's a lifesaver to me. And I'm not alone. Trust me. It's a life long battle. I actually have to stoke up my brain like I'm going into battle. My weapon is the ways I've learned to circumvent the problem. My only shield is my determination. The cognitive dissonance is hard wiring, not just a wimpy attitude. It never gets easier. We just carry on.


That's just the flip side of my wiring. It's the price I pay for also having the benefits of this quirky hunk of gray matter. When I'm challenged or interested, I can work non-stop for obscene lengths of time (if the disabilities don't interfere.) Hey, I can't take any credit at all. It's just how my brain sputters along. LOL!

If you could appreciate the incredible amounts of willpower needed to do dreaded work, then you could see how heroic Seraphim actually is. We sometimes feel desperate to find a way to make approaching dreaded work easier. Seraphim saw his as merely mental habits. I sincerely pray that's all it is for him. When it's genetic, there is no cure or adjustments. There's only determination and that doesn't quell the torture. We just get used to living the grind knowing that there's no alternatives other than delegation. LOL!

When my resistance stalemates me, I just grab the cards. It's silly to you. It's a Godsend to me.

Mark, I like the idea of starting with a very small list of only a few items. I think my problem might've been applying the random number generator to a full AutoFocus notebook of 10+ pages and 100+ items. It actually had a lot of benefits for the first few days -- items on the earlier pages were as likely to come up as current items, and it felt as though nothing would ever get lost in the system because eventually everything would be addressed.

(FYI the strategy to pick random items from a paper AF list was to generate two random numbers -- one for the page # and the other for the line # on the page. If it came back to page 4 and line 17, but that item was already crossed off, I would just do the first open item below it.)

Anyway, I think deep down we know what we need to do. After 3 or 4 days of running random AF, I felt a really strong tension building up because I wasn't getting to the things I knew I really had to do. After about 5 or 6 days the tension was quite strong, so I abandoned "randomAF" and just started doing what needed to be done. But ... I was happy that randomAF not only helped me clarify what needed to be done, but it also built up tension that worked as a great motivator, and I got started on quite a few interesting projects that I wouldn't have done otherwise.

So there might be a back and forth here -- work the lists and do what needs to be done. When you hit the point where you are cycling through the lists and nothing is standing out, rather than dismissing, just switch over to randomAF for a little while.

Mark, actually for a while I actually numbered all of the unactioned items in the AF notebook, and then randomized those numbers in Excel. If there were 80 unactioned items in the notebook, cells A1:A80 in Excel would be populated with integers 1 through 80. Cells B1:B80 would be random numbers. I would select columns A and B and sort by column B, which would randomize the numbers in column A. Each time a task was completed I would delete the number in Excel and cross it off the list in the notebook. It sounds tedious, but actually it wasn't, and I only used this method here and there to get out of ruts.

You can also try this if you want a higher probability of picking some tasks. Let's say you have four tasks -- A, B, C and D, and you assign them a score between 1 and 5 based on importance, with 5 being the highest. For example:

A - 3
B - 2
C - 5
D - 4

Those numbers add to 14. Use the numbers to create ranges:

A - 1 to 3 (3 numbers)
B - 4 to 5 (2 numbers)
C - 6 to 10 (5 numbers)
D - 11 to 14 (4 numbers)

Then pick a random integer between 1 and 14, and then choose the corresponding activity.

The other simpler approach to randomizing tasks would be to just write the activities on blank business cards and then shuffle them. The cards can also be physically sorted, project steps can be listed on the back etc. But not terribly portable.