Get Everything Done

I started a new paper notebook recently, and decided to try something new I've been thinking about.

I started my new No-List pages at the end of the notebook, instead of at the beginning.

Thus, as the pages begin to accumulate, the flow feels a little more natural.

Here is how it works. Let's say I've been working for a week, maybe one or two pages are fully completed and deleted, but there are several others still unfinished.

I start the new day by finding the page I had started yesterday. I turn to a new page to the left and date the new two-page spread with today's date. That is my no-list for today. I start listing my tasks for the day, whatever is on my mind. I circulate through this two-page spread over and over again till nothing stands out.

And then, I just move forward to the next page, then the next, and on to the end of the book, pausing to take action on anything that stands out and then cross those items off, and re-enter them on today's page if they are unfinished. Once I reach the end of the book, I just cycle back to today's page.

In other words, it's standard Serial No-List rules, but it gives you a sense of forward motion, instead of flipping backwards through old pages. Somehow this is faster and easier. I expected that. It's just physically easier to flip the pages forward. This reduces the friction of the system a little, and makes it easier to work with.

But I was surprised at one additional effect. For some reason, reversing the direction like this also gives less of a sense of "being behind". Somehow, flipping backwards through the old pages always made me feel that I was getting behind, especially as I kept flipping, and flipping, and flipping! It was never a really strong effect, and didn't really bother me, but it was present nonetheless. But now it just doesn't feel like that at all. It just feels totally fine to let these tasks sit there. It doesn't feel like I am behind. It just feels that these tasks aren't ready to do, and it's totally OK to let them sit there. I am not sure why there is this change in feeling, but there is.

The net result is that it has a feeling very close to Autofocus -- I mean, the good part of Autofocus, the feeling of being in "the zone", the feeling of flow, but without the feeling of artificial pressure that could arise sometimes from the dismissal process. This deep feeling of flow and engagement is a really nice surprise benefit. I really like it. The original way of doing Serial No-List already had some of this, as I have written elsewhere, but this takes it much closer.

In addition, as an aside, I started using the front of the notebook for general note-taking. This makes it easier to make sense of my notes. It's nice having them in the same notebook as my tasks, but more orderly having them separated like that.

I'm guessing if you did Simple Scanning or No-Dismissal AF1 backwards, it would have either a negligible impact, or a slightly negative impact. Flipping pages backwards is a little slower than flipping pages forwards, so it would go slightly slower, so the flow would feel slightly worse, and this could make the standing out feel slightly worse. I've never liked the systems that had me flipping pages backwards (like AF2). Maybe some people don't care about stuff like that.

You seem to be objecting to the idea that small changes to the mechanics of the system can have an outsized impact on the flow of the system and its intuitive feel. This can be important for how "standing out" works. I first learned this idea from you, so I am not really sure what the objection is. But maybe I am misunderstanding something.

Ah, I'm sorry, somehow I completely misunderstood your first post. Now I think I understand. And I think it helps me understand why this is having the effect it does.

Yes, I can see how this can help with Simple Scanning or No-Dismissal AF1, and it would address one of the problems I've had with those systems.

First I'll describe the problem that I had. With both of these systems -- Simple Scanning and AF1 -- the most active page is the current page -- the one that is not filled yet -- the one where you are adding new tasks. This is where we tend to spend the most time. I think most of us who have used these systems would agree with that.

So I am cycling through that page, working on whatever stands out, getting lots of momentum, but then, for whatever reason, nothing stands out. And so, since this is the last active page in my notebook, I then move all the way back to the first page in the notebook, and start working from there. But this page is the oldest, least-active page in the notebook. It is always something of a mental shift. That's the problem. It seems rather disruptive. I have to work through all these older tasks (and pages) to get back to the current ones.

However, if I reverse the order of the pages, it will work much differently. Instead of moving from the last, most-active page straight to the oldest, least-active page, I will move to the second-newest page. And from there to the third newest page.

So the tasks will be much more relevant to what I have just been working on, more fresh. The transition to these tasks will be less jarring.

That's exactly what happens when I am working with Serial No-List, and I think if you make this change to Simple Scanning or No-Dismissal AF1, it brings them very close to Serial No-List. In fact, No-Dismissal AF1 is almost indistinguishable.

The only differences are
(1) whether you repeatedly scan through each page till nothing stands out, or just scan each page once per visit, and
(2) the daily start-up procedure -- do you start where you left off (Simple Scanning), or do you start with a fresh page, writing down whatever is fresh on your mind (Serial No-List)

So this seems to tie all these systems together at some fundamental level. Very interesting indeed!

Hm, yes, chasing the end of the list... It seems this reverse method has you taking a break from your current momentum when you fill up the current active page with new tasks, and go on an excursion to visit all the older pages before picking up with your momentum again. I am not sure if that would be a "feature" or a "bug". I could see how it could go both ways.

"Feature" - For those like me who can get absorbed in a single tasks for hours on end, if the system prompts me to pause from my momentum from time to time, I suppose this could be considered a feature. I could see how it could help me to look up and see what else is going on in the world, and what other things I may be neglecting that also need some attention. And then, having taken a break, I can come back to my main work with renewed attention and focus.

"Bug" - It could be a distraction and an annoyance if I really want to keep going with the momentum that I've built up on the current active tasks. But I suppose I could take a command decision to quickly scan the first page or two for anything urgent I might be neglecting but then skip any older pages and get back to my momentum.

Mark --

Sorry to hear that. I guess the interruption doesn't happen with Serial No-List because I start a new page every day automatically, and it just picks up automatically with whatever is top-of-mind by definition. So there isn't ever that disruption of momentum.

So this reversal of direction is still working pretty well for me with Serial No-List, but not quite as "magical" as it first felt. Still a pretty good flow, though, and still very close to the original feeling of engagement and flow of AF1 when I have a good uninterrupted block of time to work.

Cricket --

<< I'm worried that ancient lines never get looked at, but it's easy enough to add a recurring task to review old pages with active tasks. Nothing new. Any system that keeps pressure on one end of the list will have lighter pressure on the other end. >>

In practice, the old lines get looked at several times a day -- at least on most days -- but just aren't really very interesting and don't stand out. They stay in the back of my mind till one day I either go cross out a bunch of stuff en masse, or some of those old lingering things finally cry out "Choose me! Choose me!"

It works like this. I cycle through the current page (today's page) over and over again about 80-90% of the time. Then I take a break and go look at the older pages. Usually I stop pretty quickly on the first or second page and do a few things there, then quickly scan through the older pages, or maybe flip through the older pages is more accurate. Then back to today's page for another good chunk of time. Then another break to the older pages. The pattern repeats.

The newest pages is where all the active, current stuff lives.

The slightly older pages tend to gather out-of-context kinds of tasks -- waiting for the right context to present itself. Maybe I am waiting for someone to get back from vacation and haven't bothered to move the task to Outlook reminders quite yet. Maybe there are a few secondary-project-related things, and that project is "on-hold" for some reason, and I am waiting for it to become "un-blocked" -- and then it will all shake loose.

And then the oldest pages is where the interesting ideas have gone to percolate -- the someday/maybes; "not urgent and (maybe) not important" but still interesting and maybe valuable in some way. Stuff I'd like to explore when I have a moment. Maybe. Maybe not. It's the wait-and-see kind of stuff and I don't have a better place to park it. If it were a piece of paper maybe I'd put it in a tickler file. But it's just a few words and typing it up into an Outlook reminder seems to dignify it with too much attention. So it just sits there for a little longer till I either delete it or it finally emerges into something greater.

<< The physical movements sound awkward. When I copy to the current page, my right hand stays on the right side of the pages being flipped, and my left deals with the old pages. Another case of the majority not being aware of how much is designed around them. >>

Thanks for offering that perspective. It occurs to me that left-handed people might want to do the opposite of what I am doing. I.e., for left-handed people, enter tasks on the first spread in the notebook, then the second spread, then the third spread, etc. And if you want to use the same notebook for general note-taking, then start that somewhere later in the notebook.