Get Everything Done

Mark,

Is there any reason why I couldn't put "A place for everything and everything in it's place" on the list and simply scratch it off and put it at the end every time I take some action towards that goal? That is to say, is there any reason tasks have to be finite?

Kevin,
here are a few thoughts that might help you.

Often it's just a matter of English semantics. The most commen use of the word 'task' in English is 'a definite piece of work assigned to or expected of a person'. Sometimes the word 'task' is used to say 'any piece of work'.

It's common practice in time management, project management and quality management to distinguish between goals and task. Tasks are done in order to reach the goal. These goals usually are activity goals, i.e. goals that are achieved by doing certain actions and keeping a deadline etc (SMART goals).

Your goal "A place for everything and everything in it's place" is more like an attitude-goal, not a project goal.

Having an attitude-goal is a good start and a good motivator, but on the long run you need a list of project goals to stay on track.
Project goals would be:
Have a clean and tidy kitchen by the end of the months.
Have all book shelves organized by Sunday .
Etc.

In order to work towards your project goals usually you make a list of tasks for each goal (project plans).

Those tasks you want to work on in the near future go onto your Autofocus list. The others stay on your project plan list.

Hope this helps.

Rainer, I don't think that's how I'm supposed to be using the system. I haven't read any of Mark's books (I haven't known they existed long enough for them to have arrived here if I'd ordered them....) But Mark has been pretty clear that Autofocus is a much more open system than that.

For example, show me another todolist where you'd dump your list of "books to read" on it and it would weed them down to size for you.

My suggestion, "A place for everything" might be better if it were a reminder to "Do something to find a place for everything or put something in it's place." In Autofocus that entry will keep recurring, and I'll keep responding to it as long as it makes sense to find it on my todo list. As long as I've got things that don't have a place or aren't in them..

I could be wrong, but hey, I'm going to give it a try as Mark suggests.

Kevin

I think that it probably doesn't matter overly how you write something PROVIDING it has the desired effect for you. If you write "a place for everything and everything in its place" and that helps you towards tidy surroundings then great. If it isn't working think about how you could phrase it better to get a better result and do that.

I think the real beauty of this system is that it is flexible enough that all sorts of people can work it their own way and as long as they understand the core philosophy and principles then it should work for them.

Like I've said elsewhere in this forum - the combination between gut feeling and logic is what seems to make it work so brilliantly and completely bypasses resistance and procrastination. I think somehow the system really helps to zero in on what truly does matter to each of us even when we don't consciously know what that is.

Of course, if something isn't working then how you're phrasing it in your Autofocus list might be ALL important and therefore would need changing.

I agree with all of that Hannah.

I'm currently finishing "Mastery" by George Leonard and because of it's attentional component autofocus jibes well with the ideas Leonard proposes.

Autofocus is about managing your attention. It's kind of a mindful todo list.

Maybe Mark should have called it "Task Mastery." ;0)

I've found it helpful where I have what would be considered more of a project than a task, such as "a place for everything and everything in it's place" to make a task along the lines of "Review [a place etc]" When I get to that task I have found that the next steps just present themselves, so would produce new tasks something like "purchase storage unit for x", "clear magazine pile". I might still feel the need to re-add the review task but eventually that would have effectively restated itself in the relevant constituent tasks.

Kevin,

I'm being very vague about some of the things I am putting on the list and am having no problems.

When the vague item comes up, it just makes me think for a moment what that really means and a task sometimes presents itself to put on the list. If not, I'll have another look at it on the next time through the list.

If you need a verb to make you feel better, add "Review" to the front like Christine says.

This seems to result in gradually "peeling a project/goal" (for want of a better phrase) in the same way that you might peel an onion, layer by layer. Once you've peeled away all the tasks (or "obstacles" if you like) in front of a goal, you'll have reached your goal.

Nice idea, Mark. Thanks.

But surely with the release of AutoFocus, the question mark after "Take over world" is now an exclamation mark? <grin>

Interesting thread...I seem to be making progress by listing the task down at roughly a project level. For example I jotted down 'SORT OUT PHOTO CD SYSTEM' and I immediately thought 'Read through (the relevant chapter) of Windows Vista for Dummys'. So I did seem to intuitively arrive at an action to move it forward.