Get Everything Done

Yo, what can I say? A new system is always a new dawn. It's always fun.

The litmus comes in two weeks, when the "weekly repeaters" look at you from their place on the list like neglected children that want to be fed.

So, at the end of the day, on my brand new digital sisc system, I do have 19 Tasks and 8 of them actioned.

sisc == SImple SCanning

I've been fine tuning my system for more than a month, and settled into a routine a couple weeks ago. My challenge is going to be fighting my short attention span to follow the list. I know my attention span is garbage, so I'm not counting it as a failure if I get side-tracked by another thought but come back to the preselected list in relatively short order. A failure would be doing a bunch of things without going through the selection process, working items on the list that weren't selected instead of following the preselect, or going a day without going through the selection process at least once.

These are definitely challenges for me, but not impossible. Already, this system has been PHENOMENAL for keeping me working on things regularly and not letting things languish. Like I said, I've been working this system for a few weeks, and the oldest unactioned active (not dismissed) item on the list is only 8 days old!

I am now at 74 tasks and 37 have been actioned. I started my 4th page.

I'm out!

Once again I built the "ultimate system" that links and prioritizes everything only to remind me that while i like the organization of it, I will find it too confining and want to rebel.

I am going back to my "3T with timeboxing and backlog,"post #1 of the Lenten challenge. It is the system I should have used instead of playing Icarus and getting burned once again.

Still using Simple Scanning (though I'm swiping the 'sisc' abbreviation). I don't track my open and done tasks, just write down lots of stuff as I think of them and scan through. If I'm feeling on top of things, then I think I'm doing OK.

Though I mentioned Simple Scanning on the Lenten Challenge post, I changed to 5T in the last minute. It feels good using a no-list all day as am constantly aware of my Authorized Projects List and filling my days with essential tasks. One-off tasks and routine tasks are getting done quickly. But still fighting to stay on top of work. Productive week so far.

Quickly I realized I was doing things the opposite direction of the system. I was going down, and adding rows, rather than going across the columns, then down. Phew!

I picked Spinning Plates because I have 3 major projects. Sorting 100 years of photos and letters I just inherited, remodeling one of the web sites I manage while emptying 3 rooms of my house to upgrade ceiling and floors.

So far it is working. Trying not to be overwhelmed.

I'm still going- some days are easier than others but so far, I have done at least one preselection every day and not worked on items out of order except ad hoc things at work or errands.

The shift to DIT has been really helpful for me so far; abandoning the approach of doing a selection of tasks/mails and leaving the rest till 'later' (=growing backlog) has got things moving more smartly, ie do stuff quickly rather than leaving for unspecified time when can do more comprehensively, and seems to dovetail well with planning a key piece of project/development work each day.

Colin - I found DIT hard to stick to for any length of time. Exhausting as I have never worked so hard to keep up! Great system but it is a hard task master.
I'm doing real auto focus which is very simply - do, defer & delete.
NB I'm enjoying very much my defer folder marked April 2020. It is filling up rapidly and I'm feeling great as life is a breeze.
Interesting to see if you can stick to DIT.

Still at it with Spinning Plates. Reminds me to stay focused despite everything that is going on around us. This system helps with limiting new projects. I am starting to see small progress on the 3 projects. They are big, I'm thinking of breaking them down to smaller chunks.

I do feel some things might be slipping through the cracks. Having this list of small, one off, tasks is important for this system to work.

Yes, that is how it is working for me. I’m using time blocking for the target right now.

Alas, I'm out. I forgot to run my system yesterday.

I'm still on simple scanning with pen and paper. The last two days have been filled with me transitioning to working from home so I've written "Review this book!" as one of today's tasks. I've started using (I think) vegheadjones' method of flagging projects as a way to help me visually cluster tasks on the page.

I also find myself writing down thoughts, ideas, little twittery things that flit through my head. Not quite journaling but a place to pin those thoughts down when they fly by. When I sweep through the notebook I will highlight them before closing out the page with a big X in the top corner.

I've also succeeded in not listening to podcasts and my god has that been more helpful than I expected. Listening to longer-form audiobooks or music has sort of calmed my marginal mental activity so I'm a little less mentally jumpy.

Hi Mike,

Glad you like the idea of #project tagging.

I like your idea of using the book for journaling and highlighting those entries so as not to be confused by tasks, I will try it.

Please share some audio book recommendations. I am definitely feeling mentally (and physically) jumpy.

Hope everyone is well and staying safe!

I need to drop out - I have been furloughed, so will not be working (my job) after today.
DIT has been superhelpful; I haven't been perfect with it, eg I haven't usually completed my day list, but I have done the main tasks of the day, so it has been great for ensuring focus on the key areas.
It's also been a personal best experience for keeping on top of incoming work, eg clearing incoming daily work emails.
Also, doing just a bit on a project then listing it again for the next day has kept things moving.
But now I'm doing home and family things, I'm back to a long list system to track ideas and projects.
Hope to pick up DIT again once I'm back to work! (assuming our business survives the economic uncertainties
Thanks again Mark, and best wishes all
Colin

I'm out.

I had thought I could do AF4, but I could only manage getting the journal out and writing the Done List every evening. So in that regard, it's more than I did previous to the Challenge.

I'm out as well.

ASEM helped me get past a colossal mental block, but after that I didnt need it anymore and my list slowly devolved into a basic to-do list. Now I know what to do, though, if I fall into another rut.