Get Everything Done

Hello there!

I was suggested to this site a while ago in summer, and thought it was cool but slightly arbitrary. I've come back after doing lots of thinking of my own, and based on my logic and conclusions, I looked at simple scanning and went "simple scanning is a heuristic that solves for a real time environment, which is exactly the thing I defined I needed". I've tried GTD extensively, and some systems of my own invention (I'm 26, and remember when I was 16 inventing a "god-todolist" system which was essentially a FIFO long list).

Mark Forster once said:

"More important than which system you use is that once you’ve chosen one you stick to it. None of my theories about the long list will work if one keeps changing systems. Again this is a very annoying conclusion for me because I could have spent the last twenty years becoming a multi-billionaire and secret ruler of the world. Not too late now perhaps… mwahahaha!"

^^ I want to spend the next 20 years doing that! hehe!

So the last couple of days I've been using simple scanning, one day I didn't use it that much, another day limited, and 2 days I've been using it for a few hours each day, building up trust in the system. Currently, I want to try it through till new year, and have a review on continuning and/or modifying.

So far:

1. I've found its an immediate performance boost as soon as I start using it. I can only imagine the results exponential as items clump on the list into routines and things streamline.

2. There is a certain trust and relief that, once entered into the system, I will be scanning that item multiple times a day. "Consolidating all my [goals] into one affordable repayable [list]" as it were.

3. I really really like putting all the fun stuff I want to do on the list. It means all my time is intentional, and procrastination melts... ironically, because I trust the fun stuff is on the list, I don't rebel as much to go do it... its like my subconcious feels acknowledged about its wants/needs and that is enough to satiate it, calm it, and get it on board with doing whatever I am doing in the current moment. There is no guilt about doing fun stuff anymore, since I've chosen it and therefore enjoy it. It also makes "todos" appear no different than the "fun" stuff, which oftentimes they are objectively to an alien no different (both involve moving fingers around on a service of buttons, or both involve driving somewhere).

Its like a clear feedback loop for my mind to objectively look at itself, and iterate and upgrade itself without concious interference.


Modification ideas I've had myself:

1. in the margin on the left hand side of the page, I might add a prefix such as "I love to/I want to/I choose to", so that when I read the list it feels autonomous, rather than an external demand. I know it shouldn't be treated as such anyway, but I think it helps. This does somewhat conflict with the "no special wording" and "no special markings" rules, and could lead to accidental categorizing and too much time spent adding special prefixes. Thoughts?

2. A set of goals to refer to, say a list of 10 orienting ideas, that one re-reads at the beginning of each pass.This interfers with the idea that goals should spring from actions and evolve naturally, by being concious demands on yourself. I was thinking of them as an orienting list to gently guide the creation and selection of tasks. I think my concious mind sees letting go entirely to the list as dangerous... what if it doesn't work? What if I don't achieve my dreams? Blah blah noise. I guess the happy medium would be to review my list, write down what objectively someone else would think my goals are compared to the list, and do that on a semi-regular basis as information for my subconicous to chew over.

Do let me know any thoughts/tips/advice, and if anything I've written brings up warning alarms about the way I'm using the system. Thanks! Toby.

Toby, you remind me of myself, except that you are 10 years younger than I am. I went through a serious GTD phase and learned many good things. I found that it works as described if you put the time in. But it's like the P90X exercise program, in that many of us just don't have the time or energy to really do it. Simple scanning with a long list simplifies so much of the overhead. One thing I am especially loving is no need to "process" my written inbox. When I have an idea of something I need to do, I add it to the list. It is immediately processed and on my list, and I will come across it very soon while I scan. With GTD, the inbox would build up, then I would spend my precious spare time "processing" that inbox and dropping it in the appropriate list. Now, my inbox is my projects list, goals list, actions lists, contexts lists, someday maybe list, waiting for list, all wrapped into one. This sounds utterly inefficient from a GTD perspective, but ironically it is precisely the opposite. I now spend my time doing things rather than processing things, or weekly reviewing things, and I don't feel the need to be crazy squeeky clean with all my list edges. It just all goes in, and things automatically get moved on, or get moved off my list once they are isolated by other crossed out items.

As for special markings, I agree with Seraphim. I would just trust the original instructions for a while and avoid writing anything else. Let your intuition dictate whether you want to work on something now. I have a reminder on my long list that I see every time I pass through it that says this: "Tell my unconscious mind: make tasks stand out that I want to do now." I tell my mind that very thing, and it is a good reminder to trust my intuition. That is something GTD often stressed, but I find that the simplicity of simple scanning (or any long list algorithm) allows for intuition to surface much easier than using some 4-fold model that includes context, time, energy, and priority. For me, letting things "stand out" that I want to do now has been so much better at getting me to act on my tasks. Filtering my tasks by a 4-fold model seemed to increase my procrastination.

Can someone please point me to where I can read more about simple scanning a long list? From what I've read it is what my Dad (& lots of others). ie: write down what you want/need to do, then scan the list as a sort of memory jogger. I'm sure I'm missing something... Thank you!

Tommy:

The instructions for Simple Scanning are in this blog post: http:// markforster. squarespace. com/ blog/ 2017/ 12/ 2/ simple-scanning-the-rules.html

(The forum blocks posts with urls, so I had to add spaces to it, you have to remove them. Or simple use the search bar in the sidebar to the right and search for "simple scanning rules".)

I want an account, so I can post urls, too. :-)

After a long gap, & nowhere else to go, I'm trying out Mark's methods again.
Since I'm escaping a rather convoluted productivity system earlier, I tried AF, read about SF, but who am I cheating, but myself.
Simple scanning seems to come naturally to me. My biggest motivation is not to force myself to do anything, but to do things 'on time'.
My biggest fear with SS is resistance to the entire task. But like Toby I'm adding fun stuff as well.
Been a good week so far!