Discussion Forum > Lenten Challenge: Daily/Weekly Success Stories
Yesterday completed successfully, and today has started well. All my previous systems usage has been a sometimes thing, so an always thing is a radical departure. It definitely helps that Serial No-List is an easy system to stick to. It's still a real challenge to stick with it, and having it as an official challenge is good motivation.
How's anybody else doing?
How's anybody else doing?
March 7, 2019 at 17:12 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
My RAF list is digital now. It is reassuring to know my list is in one place, but it so tempting to pull out the old note book. Hanging in there.
March 8, 2019 at 19:09 |
Erin
Erin
I don't have any rules per se. So "crashing" is unlikely with my approach (but - due to very loose rules - mindlessly drifting is a risk). Anyway, things are going well on my end.
March 10, 2019 at 16:31 |
avrum
avrum
Last couple days have been a struggle to stay on track. It's a good thing the rules are easy because I don't think I could have kept on with even a Simple Scanning.
March 10, 2019 at 22:57 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
HI Alan, glad you're doing well with Serial No-List. That's what I'm using too and, like you, I'm finding it easier to stick to than Simple Scanning. It's very refreshing to start a fresh page every day - it reminds me of a saying I read about many years ago - "Every day is a new life to the wise man".
To reassure myself that I'm not missing anything urgent from previous days, I have a task "scan full list" which I add every day.
At first I wasn't writing tasks that were part of my daily routine or that had a visible reminder (laundry, dishes, making meals, putting out the wastebin etc.) because I didn't want to clutter up the list with tasks I would do anyway even if I wasn't following a system, and also I wanted to keep to an open spread of two pages per day rather than running onto a new page overleaf. That works fine on some days but on days when I need extra motivation I put everything on the list.
To reassure myself that I'm not missing anything urgent from previous days, I have a task "scan full list" which I add every day.
At first I wasn't writing tasks that were part of my daily routine or that had a visible reminder (laundry, dishes, making meals, putting out the wastebin etc.) because I didn't want to clutter up the list with tasks I would do anyway even if I wasn't following a system, and also I wanted to keep to an open spread of two pages per day rather than running onto a new page overleaf. That works fine on some days but on days when I need extra motivation I put everything on the list.
March 11, 2019 at 10:28 |
Margaret1
Margaret1
I'm still using Serial No-List at work and at home. Even though my time to do things at home is limited, I still will write down everything on my mind and then scan through. I've also started writing little sentence completion stems now and then as the spirit moves me (ie, "To really feel good about today I want to ___"). I don't write a completion but I read the line and see what answers pop in my brain.
I also like the flexibility of the list in being a scratchpad of sorts, accepting tasks that flow in through the day.
At work, when I need to intersperse personal phone calls or errands with work stuff, I'm using (nuntym's?) technique of writing the work tasks flush-left and the personal tasks flush-center. I'm really liking it.
I also like the flexibility of the list in being a scratchpad of sorts, accepting tasks that flow in through the day.
At work, when I need to intersperse personal phone calls or errands with work stuff, I'm using (nuntym's?) technique of writing the work tasks flush-left and the personal tasks flush-center. I'm really liking it.
March 11, 2019 at 13:42 |
Mike Brown
Mike Brown
Very happy to see Serial No-List is working well for you!
I've been sick a lot the last few weeks, so haven't been posting. But I'm still using Serial No-List myself, and have a lot of observations to share from the last month.
I've been sick a lot the last few weeks, so haven't been posting. But I'm still using Serial No-List myself, and have a lot of observations to share from the last month.
March 11, 2019 at 15:02 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
I'm Bouncing along. I am happy with the variety and timeliness of tasks I am selecting. Last week I had a variety of short high pressure meetings or projects, they got done as well a other work. This week is less structured, so I am interested to see how the Bounce does with working on longer-term goals and projects I hope to accomplish this week.
March 11, 2019 at 17:15 |
vegheadjones
vegheadjones
Even though I made it easy -- every other day instead of every day -- it didn't work.
My plan was to write one or two words for each project each day, either status or reason I didn't work on it. The theory was it would show patterns and keep me moving.
I started the system on the week before the challenge started, and it worked well enough. The system naturally created the project "determine intermediate goals for projects," and I successfully resisted the urge to spend hours creating finely-detailed charts. One goal per week per project, with just enough detail to know if I was on track.
The next Monday (2 days before the start of Lent) was unusually tiring and I didn't catch up. After several days of writing variations on Tired or Exhausted, I didn't care to continue. Even though it was mechanically-easy to reboot, I didn't want to.
Also, a daily update of things I only expect to work on once or twice a week was a waste of time, even though it was only one word.
In hindsight, I wish I'd stuck with my original plan, which is an enhancement of my go-to system.. Start the challenge by setting weekly goals for each project. Start each week by setting daily goals. Perhaps add a monthly level. At middle and end of day / week, record success (failure) and reason, and adjust goals (and routine) as appropriate.
Also, record what I actually did, at 5-minute accuracy. Seeing the many 5-minute breaks add up, and how often they last more than 5 minutes, tells me either I really needed a lot of breaks, or I am procrastinating, or just making bad decisions. Include sleep, type of distraction, meals, weather, and other things that might affect productivity.
So, technically I'm out of the challenge, but I'm not giving up entirely just because I won't get a medal. Sticking with the new (old) system as long as I can is still worth it.
My plan was to write one or two words for each project each day, either status or reason I didn't work on it. The theory was it would show patterns and keep me moving.
I started the system on the week before the challenge started, and it worked well enough. The system naturally created the project "determine intermediate goals for projects," and I successfully resisted the urge to spend hours creating finely-detailed charts. One goal per week per project, with just enough detail to know if I was on track.
The next Monday (2 days before the start of Lent) was unusually tiring and I didn't catch up. After several days of writing variations on Tired or Exhausted, I didn't care to continue. Even though it was mechanically-easy to reboot, I didn't want to.
Also, a daily update of things I only expect to work on once or twice a week was a waste of time, even though it was only one word.
In hindsight, I wish I'd stuck with my original plan, which is an enhancement of my go-to system.. Start the challenge by setting weekly goals for each project. Start each week by setting daily goals. Perhaps add a monthly level. At middle and end of day / week, record success (failure) and reason, and adjust goals (and routine) as appropriate.
Also, record what I actually did, at 5-minute accuracy. Seeing the many 5-minute breaks add up, and how often they last more than 5 minutes, tells me either I really needed a lot of breaks, or I am procrastinating, or just making bad decisions. Include sleep, type of distraction, meals, weather, and other things that might affect productivity.
So, technically I'm out of the challenge, but I'm not giving up entirely just because I won't get a medal. Sticking with the new (old) system as long as I can is still worth it.
March 11, 2019 at 20:30 |
Cricket
Cricket
<< but I'm not giving up entirely just because I won't get a medal>>
Mark's giving out medals... YES!!
Mark's giving out medals... YES!!
March 12, 2019 at 1:26 |
avrum
avrum
I take it your Narrative is progressing well?
March 12, 2019 at 14:49 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
Alan:
<<I take it your Narrative is progressing well?>>
You know - it is what it is. The general idea hasn't changed in years. It hasn't changed my life, or provided me with a "mind like water", and I'm ok with that.
I think a lot of my productivity reading/fiddling falls into the category of:
So long as I'm focused on this, I don't have to focus on that!
<<I take it your Narrative is progressing well?>>
You know - it is what it is. The general idea hasn't changed in years. It hasn't changed my life, or provided me with a "mind like water", and I'm ok with that.
I think a lot of my productivity reading/fiddling falls into the category of:
So long as I'm focused on this, I don't have to focus on that!
March 12, 2019 at 15:02 |
avrum
avrum
avrum -
<< You know - it is what it is. The general idea hasn't changed in years. It hasn't changed my life, or provided me with a "mind like water", and I'm ok with that. >>
This really resonated with me.
Over the last few weeks, I've struggled. At first I was tempted to think, "Oh no, I've finally pushed yet another time management system to its limits...". But then I realized, it's ME who has been struggling, not the TM system. I was frequently sick with a series of migraines; dealing with all kinds of changes at work; lots of stuff happening at home; etc. The struggles with the system were just a reflection of the struggles overall. It was obvious in retrospect.
Serial No-List put it all back in front of me like a mirror. Some of Mark's systems have worked like that, but not ever so clearly, or so simply. In the past, when I would get overwhelmed or bogged down, it always seemed like I could point to some dynamic of the system that was causing the trouble -- couldn't cycle the list fast enough; couldn't clear Column 2 fast enough (SF); couldn't get through my Final Version pre-selection fast enough; conflict between dismissing pages and attending to urgent items; etc.
I am sure the system crashes were really just the outcome of the real overwhelm. Mark has often said, you can't expect to fill your system with 10x the work you could possibly ever do, and expect the system to magically make it all happen. But the way it would fail, it was always some persistent conflict between the system rules, and what I intuitively felt had to be done.
But with Serial No-List, there isn't any of that at all. If there's a lot of stuff I couldn't get done, it's just because there's a lot of stuff I couldn't get done. There aren't any other reasons. The system isn't demanding me to do anything. It's the work situation itself that's causing the pressure. So now I need to face it squarely and decide how to deal with it.
When I realized that, it left me with the same kind of feeling that Avrum is describing: ACCEPTANCE.
I feel like I am really getting somewhere.
<< You know - it is what it is. The general idea hasn't changed in years. It hasn't changed my life, or provided me with a "mind like water", and I'm ok with that. >>
This really resonated with me.
Over the last few weeks, I've struggled. At first I was tempted to think, "Oh no, I've finally pushed yet another time management system to its limits...". But then I realized, it's ME who has been struggling, not the TM system. I was frequently sick with a series of migraines; dealing with all kinds of changes at work; lots of stuff happening at home; etc. The struggles with the system were just a reflection of the struggles overall. It was obvious in retrospect.
Serial No-List put it all back in front of me like a mirror. Some of Mark's systems have worked like that, but not ever so clearly, or so simply. In the past, when I would get overwhelmed or bogged down, it always seemed like I could point to some dynamic of the system that was causing the trouble -- couldn't cycle the list fast enough; couldn't clear Column 2 fast enough (SF); couldn't get through my Final Version pre-selection fast enough; conflict between dismissing pages and attending to urgent items; etc.
I am sure the system crashes were really just the outcome of the real overwhelm. Mark has often said, you can't expect to fill your system with 10x the work you could possibly ever do, and expect the system to magically make it all happen. But the way it would fail, it was always some persistent conflict between the system rules, and what I intuitively felt had to be done.
But with Serial No-List, there isn't any of that at all. If there's a lot of stuff I couldn't get done, it's just because there's a lot of stuff I couldn't get done. There aren't any other reasons. The system isn't demanding me to do anything. It's the work situation itself that's causing the pressure. So now I need to face it squarely and decide how to deal with it.
When I realized that, it left me with the same kind of feeling that Avrum is describing: ACCEPTANCE.
I feel like I am really getting somewhere.
March 12, 2019 at 17:08 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Seraphim:
<< It's the work situation itself that's causing the pressure. So now I need to face it squarely and decide how to deal with it. >>
I think I've been saying that to you for at least ten years!
<< It's the work situation itself that's causing the pressure. So now I need to face it squarely and decide how to deal with it. >>
I think I've been saying that to you for at least ten years!
March 12, 2019 at 21:23 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Mark -
Well, no, you’ve been telling me for ten years that I am overcommitted. :-)
I am talking about something different.
Well, no, you’ve been telling me for ten years that I am overcommitted. :-)
I am talking about something different.
March 13, 2019 at 0:41 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Seraphim:
<< Well, no, you’ve been telling me for ten years that I am overcommitted. :-) I am talking about something different. >>
Well, no, I've been telling you that it's your work situation that's been causing the pressure. And that you need to face it squarely and decide how to deal with it. The trouble is that you've always interpreted that as merely meaning that you're overcommitted.
<< Well, no, you’ve been telling me for ten years that I am overcommitted. :-) I am talking about something different. >>
Well, no, I've been telling you that it's your work situation that's been causing the pressure. And that you need to face it squarely and decide how to deal with it. The trouble is that you've always interpreted that as merely meaning that you're overcommitted.
March 13, 2019 at 10:37 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Well, perhaps you are right.
In any case, I think it's the first time that the time-management system itself has reflected my real situation back to me, rather than pointing me in some other direction. In the past, I've always needed to break away from the system to get a clear idea of what's really happening and how to re-establish focus. I'm not saying this to disparage previous systems, but to observe that Serial No-List has this particular characteristic which is very helpful in my particular situation.
In any case, I think it's the first time that the time-management system itself has reflected my real situation back to me, rather than pointing me in some other direction. In the past, I've always needed to break away from the system to get a clear idea of what's really happening and how to re-establish focus. I'm not saying this to disparage previous systems, but to observe that Serial No-List has this particular characteristic which is very helpful in my particular situation.
March 13, 2019 at 15:11 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
I also had a bit of a realization looking at my SNL last night. I've been reading up on the "Life Admin" book that Oliver Burkeman wrote about several weeks ago on the Guardian site. As I looked at my tasks, I ticked all the tasks that were admin or maintenance related and which were creative.
Most of them were all admin-related. The non-admin ones were practicing my banjo (although that could also be seen as admin, I guess) and writing a blog post. The proportion is perhaps not surprising; most of our lives are taken up with admin of one sort or another.
It woke me up to the fact of how much of my evenings/weekends are spent doing admin and what can I do to open up more room for creating. Because in the end, I'd rather be creating and writing stuff than doing all this admin.
Most of them were all admin-related. The non-admin ones were practicing my banjo (although that could also be seen as admin, I guess) and writing a blog post. The proportion is perhaps not surprising; most of our lives are taken up with admin of one sort or another.
It woke me up to the fact of how much of my evenings/weekends are spent doing admin and what can I do to open up more room for creating. Because in the end, I'd rather be creating and writing stuff than doing all this admin.
March 13, 2019 at 19:31 |
Mike Brown
Mike Brown
Prior to the Lenten Challenge I had a very successful months-long run with Simple Scanning (SiSc) on pen & paper.
I changed to DIT for the challenge, because I want to make DIT work for me with digital tools, something that never happened for me back then…
So far it works pretty well. Around the time Mark's last book came out, after I studied it (and I still do), I became good at time management. Which means, I am generally on top of my work, while creativity wise improving constantly. On a basic level: it's done. Mark solved my TM-problems.
So, digital DIT works for me by now.
What was striking to me, after working in the AF realm, which is the only truly working Someday/Maybe list I have ever seen, is how DIT makes sure that every atomic item in the system get's forced to be dealt with at some point. DIT seen as a maze doesn't let any way out for any "todo".
As advised by the book I took my old SiSc list as the backlog for the Current Initiative. I am still working on it. It is an interesting experiment in it's own right, because SiSc did "pre-clumb" the list. What I have here is a closed list which is pre-sorted by AF. I don't know if that is better, but it's fun to watch.
I changed to DIT for the challenge, because I want to make DIT work for me with digital tools, something that never happened for me back then…
So far it works pretty well. Around the time Mark's last book came out, after I studied it (and I still do), I became good at time management. Which means, I am generally on top of my work, while creativity wise improving constantly. On a basic level: it's done. Mark solved my TM-problems.
So, digital DIT works for me by now.
What was striking to me, after working in the AF realm, which is the only truly working Someday/Maybe list I have ever seen, is how DIT makes sure that every atomic item in the system get's forced to be dealt with at some point. DIT seen as a maze doesn't let any way out for any "todo".
As advised by the book I took my old SiSc list as the backlog for the Current Initiative. I am still working on it. It is an interesting experiment in it's own right, because SiSc did "pre-clumb" the list. What I have here is a closed list which is pre-sorted by AF. I don't know if that is better, but it's fun to watch.
March 14, 2019 at 11:00 |
Christopher
Christopher
Mike Brown:
<< It woke me up to the fact of how much of my evenings/weekends are spent doing admin and what can I do to open up more room for creating. Because in the end, I'd rather be creating and writing stuff than doing all this admin.>>
I've coached enough creative people to know that the most effective way they can undermine their creativity is to neglect their admin.
<< It woke me up to the fact of how much of my evenings/weekends are spent doing admin and what can I do to open up more room for creating. Because in the end, I'd rather be creating and writing stuff than doing all this admin.>>
I've coached enough creative people to know that the most effective way they can undermine their creativity is to neglect their admin.
March 14, 2019 at 13:12 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Mark:
Indeed! After my initial shock and disappointment, I pondered that, well, this collection of tasks is telling me that I need better systems/habits/routines. No wonder I can't make time for creative work -- I'm too busy dealing with these onesie-twosie tasks..
Based on one of your previous recommendations, I bought a Doxie SE scanner a while back and I'm now getting down to addressing the nuts and bolts of where those scanned files will go, what they will be named, etc. so I can systematize the workflow. I'd postponed those decisions, hence one of the many pileups in my No-list (dealing with paperwork and paper/digital filing).
Indeed! After my initial shock and disappointment, I pondered that, well, this collection of tasks is telling me that I need better systems/habits/routines. No wonder I can't make time for creative work -- I'm too busy dealing with these onesie-twosie tasks..
Based on one of your previous recommendations, I bought a Doxie SE scanner a while back and I'm now getting down to addressing the nuts and bolts of where those scanned files will go, what they will be named, etc. so I can systematize the workflow. I'd postponed those decisions, hence one of the many pileups in my No-list (dealing with paperwork and paper/digital filing).
March 14, 2019 at 17:50 |
Mike Brown
Mike Brown
>>…and I'm now getting down to addressing the nuts and bolts of where those scanned files will go…<<
http://dougist.com/2009/08/file-system-infobase-manager/
http://dougist.com/2009/08/file-system-infobase-manager/
March 14, 2019 at 18:10 |
Christopher
Christopher
Mike Brown:
<< Based on one of your previous recommendations, I bought a Doxie SE scanner a while back and I'm now getting down to addressing the nuts and bolts of where those scanned files will go, what they will be named, etc. so I can systematize the workflow. >>
I wore out my Doxie a long time ago!
Nowadays I scan everything into Evernote using my phone. Fast, simple, good results, easy to edit, easy to file (Evernote can read the scans even if they are in handwriting), and you don't have to carry anything around with you which you wouldn't be carrying anyway.
<< Based on one of your previous recommendations, I bought a Doxie SE scanner a while back and I'm now getting down to addressing the nuts and bolts of where those scanned files will go, what they will be named, etc. so I can systematize the workflow. >>
I wore out my Doxie a long time ago!
Nowadays I scan everything into Evernote using my phone. Fast, simple, good results, easy to edit, easy to file (Evernote can read the scans even if they are in handwriting), and you don't have to carry anything around with you which you wouldn't be carrying anyway.
March 14, 2019 at 18:38 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Mark -
Do you use the Scannable app?
It's an Evernote app specifically designed to scan stuff into Evernote. It's great for capturing documents, presentations, or whatever. You can save it into Evernote as images or as PDFs.
I've been using it more and more, but so far it hasn't completely replaced my Fujitsu ScanSnap (which also scans directly into Evernote on my desktop PC).
It's also pretty easy to just add photos to Evernote with the phone, but the Scannable app does automatic cropping, automatic squaring, automatic recoloring (for low-contrast documents, for example), and other nice things.
Do you use the Scannable app?
It's an Evernote app specifically designed to scan stuff into Evernote. It's great for capturing documents, presentations, or whatever. You can save it into Evernote as images or as PDFs.
I've been using it more and more, but so far it hasn't completely replaced my Fujitsu ScanSnap (which also scans directly into Evernote on my desktop PC).
It's also pretty easy to just add photos to Evernote with the phone, but the Scannable app does automatic cropping, automatic squaring, automatic recoloring (for low-contrast documents, for example), and other nice things.
March 14, 2019 at 18:48 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Seraphim:
<< the Scannable app does automatic cropping, automatic squaring, automatic recoloring (for low-contrast documents, for example), and other nice things. >>
Evernote does all that anyway.
http://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/222177927-How-to-capture-handwriting-and-scan-documents-with-your-phone
<< the Scannable app does automatic cropping, automatic squaring, automatic recoloring (for low-contrast documents, for example), and other nice things. >>
Evernote does all that anyway.
http://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/222177927-How-to-capture-handwriting-and-scan-documents-with-your-phone
March 14, 2019 at 19:55 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Christopher:
Thank you for the link. I typically start my filenames with today's date (or the receipt date for medical or other receipts) and use the filename to hold the metadata. Doug's rather elaborate system sounds too much like work to me!
I've decided to optimize speed of filing over speed of retrieval, since I rarely need to retrieve anything. One of my professors said that only 2% of the books in a university research library are ever checked out, and I'll bet the same ratio is true for personal files. If I do spend time looking for something, then I'll add better metadata to the filename or the note itself, or create a separate directory if that makes sense. I already spend way too much time fiddling with this stuff.
Mark:
Interesting. I have split my scans between my Mac file system (Spotlight search is great) and Evernote. That's undoubtedly one of my workflow problems: never decided a final resting place for these files, so the system has seized up.
Thank you for the link. I typically start my filenames with today's date (or the receipt date for medical or other receipts) and use the filename to hold the metadata. Doug's rather elaborate system sounds too much like work to me!
I've decided to optimize speed of filing over speed of retrieval, since I rarely need to retrieve anything. One of my professors said that only 2% of the books in a university research library are ever checked out, and I'll bet the same ratio is true for personal files. If I do spend time looking for something, then I'll add better metadata to the filename or the note itself, or create a separate directory if that makes sense. I already spend way too much time fiddling with this stuff.
Mark:
Interesting. I have split my scans between my Mac file system (Spotlight search is great) and Evernote. That's undoubtedly one of my workflow problems: never decided a final resting place for these files, so the system has seized up.
March 15, 2019 at 14:41 |
Mike Brown
Mike Brown
Nope, I failed. I'll blame stress and lack of sleep, but the past two days I've been in and out of following the system. I am not abandoning the system though, and I'm back into it again. I need to reconsider how I can avoid dropping out again like that.
March 15, 2019 at 14:41 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
Lenten update: Enjoying the challenge and I’m still in.
I’m doing my own variation of simple scanning as it needs a modification to cope better with the type of work I do.
My problem is that I found it is not possible to keep one very long list (it would be ridiculously long) and I easily lose track of things in there. Simple scanning is my preferred method, so the easiest solution I could see for me was breaking all the tasks down into batches of similar type tasks. That has worked out to be to about 40 separate long lists of similar categorised tasks.
New tasks get dropped into each appropriate list, so I only ever need to scan something once.
I can then manage them all so much better and I can see at a glance how long the lists are getting or the oldest task and take action.
So far so good. I’m determined to see the challenge through....
I’m doing my own variation of simple scanning as it needs a modification to cope better with the type of work I do.
My problem is that I found it is not possible to keep one very long list (it would be ridiculously long) and I easily lose track of things in there. Simple scanning is my preferred method, so the easiest solution I could see for me was breaking all the tasks down into batches of similar type tasks. That has worked out to be to about 40 separate long lists of similar categorised tasks.
New tasks get dropped into each appropriate list, so I only ever need to scan something once.
I can then manage them all so much better and I can see at a glance how long the lists are getting or the oldest task and take action.
So far so good. I’m determined to see the challenge through....
March 15, 2019 at 17:49 |
MrBacklog
MrBacklog
Mike Brown:
<< If I do spend time looking for something, then I'll add better metadata to the filename or the note itself, or create a separate directory if that makes sense.>>
That reminds me of Merlin Mann's Q trick:
http://www.kungfugrippe.com/post/453204090/q-trick
MrBacklog:
Your system sounds good, except for 40 lists? Several lists yes, but 40 of them? How do you decide when to switch lists?
<< If I do spend time looking for something, then I'll add better metadata to the filename or the note itself, or create a separate directory if that makes sense.>>
That reminds me of Merlin Mann's Q trick:
http://www.kungfugrippe.com/post/453204090/q-trick
MrBacklog:
Your system sounds good, except for 40 lists? Several lists yes, but 40 of them? How do you decide when to switch lists?
March 15, 2019 at 18:18 |
Christopher
Christopher
Christopher:
Yes - about 3 of the lists are things that need to be done daily: client emails, things with some urgency etc.
The rest are things that might be done weekly or monthly or maybe every 6 months etc and are ideally suited to be done in bulk.
Main thing is that I can work on just a couple of lists for a few days and get a lot of efficiency with doing the same type of work. The “flow” is there....it avoids lots of switching tasks before which did my head in.
I suppose I also do a sort of plate spinning with 40 plates.
Yes - about 3 of the lists are things that need to be done daily: client emails, things with some urgency etc.
The rest are things that might be done weekly or monthly or maybe every 6 months etc and are ideally suited to be done in bulk.
Main thing is that I can work on just a couple of lists for a few days and get a lot of efficiency with doing the same type of work. The “flow” is there....it avoids lots of switching tasks before which did my head in.
I suppose I also do a sort of plate spinning with 40 plates.
March 15, 2019 at 19:01 |
MrBacklog
MrBacklog
Alan wrote:
<< Nope, I failed. I'll blame stress and lack of sleep, but the past two days I've been in and out of following the system. I am not abandoning the system though, and I'm back into it again. I need to reconsider how I can avoid dropping out again like that. >>
Glad to hear you aren't giving up! :-)
I'm really interested in any feedback on how Serial No-List has been working (or failing!) for you. Could you say a bit more about how the failure happened? And I suppose even more fundamentally, what exactly you mean when you say you failed?
Thanks!
<< Nope, I failed. I'll blame stress and lack of sleep, but the past two days I've been in and out of following the system. I am not abandoning the system though, and I'm back into it again. I need to reconsider how I can avoid dropping out again like that. >>
Glad to hear you aren't giving up! :-)
I'm really interested in any feedback on how Serial No-List has been working (or failing!) for you. Could you say a bit more about how the failure happened? And I suppose even more fundamentally, what exactly you mean when you say you failed?
Thanks!
March 16, 2019 at 0:01 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
I allowed myself to get emotionally imbalanced, to run away from my thoughts by overindulging in media and not getting enough sleep. Then, being very tired, I simply abandoned discipline tof following the rules and simply did my own thing. My rules explicitly allow me to do my own thing, but they demand I choose deliberately. These past days I did way too much impulsively.
March 16, 2019 at 13:28 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
It Is 12 days now using RAF system digitally. When things do not go according to plan, sickness, unforeseen occurrences, etc is exactly when the system helps me to keep on top of things. My temptation is to add a paper list and ending up with two lists again.
March 17, 2019 at 15:35 |
Erin
Erin
Erin
What software/app are you using?
What software/app are you using?
March 17, 2019 at 16:34 |
Caibre65
Caibre65
Caibre65
I am using Things, Culture Code, Mac only. It is simple to duplicate and move items.
I read about using Things for RAF, then I could not find it in the blog. I looked under Yesterday, day before Yesterday, which I remembered from the system. Then Chris Cooper mentioned RAF in the challenge and I found R. Perry's comment about using Things near the end of Real Autofocus?.
I wish I could figure out how to copy a post a link.
I am using Things, Culture Code, Mac only. It is simple to duplicate and move items.
I read about using Things for RAF, then I could not find it in the blog. I looked under Yesterday, day before Yesterday, which I remembered from the system. Then Chris Cooper mentioned RAF in the challenge and I found R. Perry's comment about using Things near the end of Real Autofocus?.
I wish I could figure out how to copy a post a link.
March 17, 2019 at 21:37 |
Erin
Erin
Alan Baljeu -
<< I allowed myself to get emotionally imbalanced, to run away from my thoughts by overindulging in media and not getting enough sleep. Then, being very tired, I simply abandoned discipline tof following the rules and simply did my own thing. My rules explicitly allow me to do my own thing, but they demand I choose deliberately. These past days I did way too much impulsively. >>
Hm, interesting. There was a period of 2-3 weeks, in late January / early February, where I found myself deviating from my usual schedule, staying up late to work on things. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but it began to take a toll after awhile. "Stayed up too late last night!" started to recur on my list. 🙂 Eventually it self-corrected and I found a good balance. Actually I've found myself completely re-organizing my personal schedule as a result of some realizations I've been making during the process of using Serial No-List. Perhaps I should write a separate post about that.
But for now, I am wondering if the free-form nature of Serial No-List causes more of these kinds of excursions at first. The system is very freeing and seems to encourage new kinds of exploration. Maybe it should come with a warning label. 🙂
Or maybe it has nothing to do with Serial No-List and we are just impulsive sometimes. LOL
<< I allowed myself to get emotionally imbalanced, to run away from my thoughts by overindulging in media and not getting enough sleep. Then, being very tired, I simply abandoned discipline tof following the rules and simply did my own thing. My rules explicitly allow me to do my own thing, but they demand I choose deliberately. These past days I did way too much impulsively. >>
Hm, interesting. There was a period of 2-3 weeks, in late January / early February, where I found myself deviating from my usual schedule, staying up late to work on things. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but it began to take a toll after awhile. "Stayed up too late last night!" started to recur on my list. 🙂 Eventually it self-corrected and I found a good balance. Actually I've found myself completely re-organizing my personal schedule as a result of some realizations I've been making during the process of using Serial No-List. Perhaps I should write a separate post about that.
But for now, I am wondering if the free-form nature of Serial No-List causes more of these kinds of excursions at first. The system is very freeing and seems to encourage new kinds of exploration. Maybe it should come with a warning label. 🙂
Or maybe it has nothing to do with Serial No-List and we are just impulsive sometimes. LOL
March 18, 2019 at 0:54 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
My commitment was:
Rule 1: At any time I may do whatever I choose, but before I do anything non-trivial, it must be on the list. If it isn't there, write it. Then I may do it. (And this as part of a serial no-list system but the system is secondary.)
It's early hours, but so far success. The key for me to kick it off right (and this took a couple weeks of practice to get here) was that my note taking device is my phone (but also my computer, synced), and I had worked to establish a routine of:
At night (prompted by an alarm), close off the current day and start a blank new day.
Plug the phone into its charger
In the morning (as part of a routine of getting started for the day) unplug the phone and open the list.