Get Everything Done

I'm snatching 30 seconds from a packed day to write this.

My normal week both at work and home has very little discretionary (i.e. non-scheduled) time as I teach 3 days/week and childmind on two days. There's often not enough time to even look at my lists let alone decide what tasks to work on!

But when there is more discretionary time available, I think the strength of AF is that you can just pick up from where you left off and provide the focus/structure lacking when when external requests are not driving the pace.

PS I meant to ask if others have similar time pressures and what advice might be helpful in implementing AF in such circumstances?
Thanks

I have more non-scheduled time than you, but not so much: I'm a doctor and see patients in a row, and much of the non-scheduled time is needed to write patient-reports. But when a report takes less time than I thought, I'm glad to have a list at hand that enables me to pick a task from it and just do something with that small amount of time, instead of just getting me another cup of tea...

Hello Linda and Anne and anyone else who has very little discretionary time.

Please see my post below this one. I'm in the same situation as you two and I guess many others. I've never managed to get much done and it's a source of frustration.

I've been reading Mark's books for a couple of years or so and I particularly like the idea from his first book of spending a few minutes on each task. That seems to help me work on two or three tasks at once. I've worked up to 20 mins on each and it really helps.

Work days though I may give AF a miss.

As I say though I do find that I do a range of small jobs without having to put them on a list simply because I see them in front of me and do them immediately - putting washing on the rack, washing up etc. I just don't get to do much that furthers my life. Help!!

I'm new here, but what strikes me is that a lot of people here are overloaded with repetitive tasks, so nothing or very few of the AF lists can be done.

If all your time gets consumed day in, day out, then there must be someone who runs your agenda. Take a look in the mirror and get to know that person!

Yes, that would be the case if the situation was permanently like that. But sometimes you get a period when work committments are high, like in my case, teaching an intensive block mode for the next eight weeks. I can't remove that committment (apart from resigning my job!) But after that work will be a lot quieter.

Plus, while setting up my AF lists, I've entered lots of want-to's which have been on my Someday list for ages, like organising family photos, re-designing the garden etc. I know I'm not going to get around to them fast but they are there for when I have more time. I think it will take a few weeks of settling down before the backlog is cleared.

BTW I decided to jump in the deep end today with a combined home/work list of 100+ tasks, including recurring ones - taking a leap of faith!

I am marking work-related tasks with a W in the left column so I can spot them more easily and errands on a separate mini-notebook.

I feel I have had a very productive day although I'm currently adding many more tasks than I'm completing, which is a bit scarey. However, I think I'm getting the hang of AF now, after 3 days of confusion!

I think the numbers of items we add will gradually settle down to a rough pattern - in the early days there will invariably be a lot of backlog (and possibly high resistance) items but I think adding in the fun things will help to get our lives more in balance. Like linda I have periods when I can focus (Autofocus?) and others where i am lucky if i can snatch more than an hour over the entire day and end up working late into the evening on "shoulds" as a result. So far this week AF has coped beyond my expectations and even when I have had minimal workday time have not felt stressed by the fact that I was not able to do very much. I can see that the system is not about numbers of items done but about doing what is necessary - and so far that is happening ......

New item - get a new keyboard where the Caps key works properly - or check my posts first :-)

Oh dear, there's nothing like telling it as it is. Seems like I do need to look at the commitments in my life. I thought I'd done that when I read Mark's first book - Get everything done, where he says that you can't take on too many things and do them all to the standard that you want, and to maybe cut some items.
I have already cut out gardening which is a shame because I do enjoy it but it took away time that I now spend on budgeting - vital for me and something that didn't really get done when I was spending a lot of time in the garden.
I also cut down on time spent on friends. I still have friends so that is working ok!
I work full time and only have an hour or so where I can do anything I want in the evenings. I can't cut out my full time job!
Weekends are different. Here I can see that if I spent just a little less time reading I could do other productive things. I feel as if I have to cut down on a lot of the enjoyable activities and just at the moment I can feel myself mentally stamping my feet and saying I don't want to do that. I realise it's all a question of balance.

Hi Sandy

It really is hard when we have so many fixed commitments and our usual response is to do exactly as you did and cut out the things we like doing as somehow being less important than the things we feel we must do (a lot of which we genuinely do need to do). However that eventually leads to feelings of frustration and in the long term increases stress levels, increases procrastination and reduces productivity.

My experience with AF to date is that it somehow cuts through all of that - as Mark states it works with the intuitive side of our nature over the rational side. In one week , or in practice only just over two working days) I have achieved more than in the previous three or four weeks (not counting the holidays) and have not only completed tasks I was previously procrastinating on but also kept totally up to date with routine tasks, started to clear my backlog and even done some things on my "enjoy" list without guilt :-)

Try the system exactly as described over the weekend and see how it goes ........ do keep us posted & good luck!

I've been working the system today, Saturday. Thank you to everyone for your support. Thank you Christine B. You seem to understand general daily overload.

I have got 22 items on my list now. I have a recurring item which I must do. It would be my current initiative in DIT. Because I have worked on it only for a short time and then moved onto other tasks I am falling behind. I am just spending my time catching up now. This item is dealing with my personal finances and budgeting. Things get so far behind that I have no idea how much money I have available to spend. This has caused me problems in the past so I made myself a promise to deal with this issue on a daily basis. That is just not happening at the moment. If I don't have time every evening then I have to spend a long time every Saturday sorting out my finances and so I can't easily move onto other tasks.

I think this issue is so important that it has to be done off list - a set time every day.

That won't leave any time in a normal day to do much if anything on my AF list.

It is all down to general day to day commitments. I could just trust that AF will sort out enough budgeting time, but the trouble is that I can do enormous damage to my limited budget when I'm not sure exactly how much spare money I have. This damage can be done in a very short period of time while I'm waiting to get round to budgeting again from the AF list. This has been learned the hard way from personal experience.

With DIT I could spend 20 minutes per evening after work and an hour or so every weekend morning on this project. That was enough to keep me up to date. I use Quicken the personal finance computer program plus keep all my receipts until they are entered on the system. If I use "common sense" and carry on doing this then I just won't get round to much from my AF list. This is what has been happening since the 5th Jan when I started beta testing AF.

Anyway I'm carrying on with AF. I don't want to give up easily.

Hi Sandy

It's great that you've been able to move AF forward today - if you can stick with it I think you will find it really beneficial. However it is important to keep in mind that we are where we are now, which may well be in a position where we have urgent tasks such as you describe, which do need to be done and need to be done now.

I can totally relate to the issue you describe and whilst I genuinely believe AF will help to keep this as a task under control in the long run, it is clear that this is a major concern to you in the immediate. My personal view is that you need to find some way to get this issue dealt with to the extent that it is not praying on your mind as it is the fear factor that paralyses action as opposed to the actual situation itself. The likelihood is that the situation may not be that bad but when you do not feel in control it is the "unknown" that causes the stress.

My suggestion would be to set this up as a project and write out a list of the regular tasks or actions that form a part of the routines for that project, such as a check list for data entry into Quicken, any set procedures you have defined (writing them down gives a sense of control) and looking at ways to reduce input time. There are a number of tricks for doing that in a personal finance and budgeting scenario and I'd be happy to give some examples if that would help. There are also a few things you can do to feel more in control even when you do have a backlog in this area and again I'd be glad to pass on ideas if you would like. Quicken is a great tool for keeping track but once you get behind, a data entry backlog can be pretty daunting. When you do get up to date it will be easier to add the individual tasks into AF and that will help keep it under control going forward without the stress of a backlog building up.

One tip for dealing with this sort of a backlog is to go somewhere else where you can work without distraction, perhaps on a friend's dining room table or something. Not strictly an AF solution but this seems to fall more into the "common sense" action arena.

Hope this helps ......

Sandy, you wrote:

"I have already cut out gardening which is a shame because I do enjoy it but it took away time that I now spend on budgeting - vital for me and something that didn't really get done when I was spending a lot of time in the garden.
I also cut down on time spent on friends. I still have friends so that is working ok!
I work full time and only have an hour or so where I can do anything I want in the evenings. I can't cut out my full time job!
Weekends are different. Here I can see that if I spent just a little less time reading I could do other productive things. I feel as if I have to cut down on a lot of the enjoyable activities and just at the moment I can feel myself mentally stamping my feet and saying I don't want to do that. I realise it's all a question of balance."

I read and reread that piece. I can relate to it, I have dropped fun activities for the merit of 'being productive and useful'...And it's frightening almost. This sounds like managing commitments, but to what purpose? Gardening in its nature can be the most important part of your day, your week in fact. What other time do you get to put your 'mind on pause' , relax and enjoy. This could be very well your most 'productive time', most vital time you get. Time with your friends? You're cutting time with your friends?

I wonder what happens when entering in 'fun activities' into AF and having your mind value them appropriately. Even Winston Churchill got round to painting and relaxing during the most stressful times. (during the war, he took daily afternoon naps. he told his staff to only wake him up in the event of the germans landing on english soil. He knew that resting was critically important.)

In my opinion a time management approach should be designed to help you take your mind of tasks and 'producing' so you can get round to what is most important in life.

Thinking that with AF, there's a tendency to fall in love with 'getting things done'...especially because it works so well.

Peter is absolutely right - there could be a tendency to fall in love with the "getting things done" aspect of AF and it is important to add "fun" activities into the system. Life needs to be balanced - it is a feature of our busy lives that we cut the things we enjoy (and which are essential for our long term health and wellbeing) at the expense of the current crisis. Whilst that is OK for a one-off issue, if we get into a state of constant fire-fighting it is the worst thing we can do. Sometimes though, when we get to the "overwhelm" stage it is the catalyst we need to get that one issue out of the way by any means possible (and often with someone else's help - where friends are invaluable!) and build back up from there - in a balanced way.

Thank you all for your practical advice above. Mark, I'm spending that amount of time on Quicken while I sort out my backlog but I also do need an hour or so at the weekends to enter data but also to plan financially. This will be true even once my backlog is cleared. If you and Christine B can deal with your finances much more rapidly than this, then please feel free to advise me! I'm throwing down a challenge here! I recognise that this is taking up a serious amount of my time so I am obviously in need of help.

Can I be cheeky here and ask for some IT advice?! I have problems synchronising Palm PocketMoney to Quicken on my laptop. I enter data in my Palm. PocketMoney is completely compatible with Quicken and also Microsoft Money but I've never yet managed to synchronise the two. Does anybody know how long synchronising should take on a broad band connection? I have waited 5 mins or so previously and not seen any message indicating a problem or otherwise. The two applications didn't synchronise.

I am needless to say happy to offer advice where I can in return.

You might say that I should just enter data directly into the laptop, but that doesn't feel practical. We don't have our laptop permanently set up, so I would have to collect it from upstairs, bring it to our dining table, hook up the broadband connection, log into Quicken, etc. Quicker to enter straight into Palm.

I am going to enter Fun activities into AF. I won't have any problem doing those. I don't want to give the impression that I don't do any fun activities, just that I cut out gardening because I could see that it's an activity that would free up the most amount of time. I've cut down on day to day contact by text and phone with friends. That feels sad but it was becoming a choice between friends and my other half. My other half wins of course. I do read a lot but I find that so relaxing and also informative. Where would I be if I'd never read any of Mark's books!

I think that anybody who does a full time job then has to do jobs around the house - and can't afford a cleaner - has a limited amount of discretionary time. I'm thinking at the moment that I will amend AF to suit my needs and combine it with the best of DIT and Get things done.

I for one like David Allen's book - Getting things done. It has helped me, and I can see that it has similarities to AF. Have you all read this book?

Hi Sandy

It sounds like you have had a better weekend and are not cutting out all your fun activities which is great - that is all too easy to do when in a state of overwhelm!

I agree with Mark that it shouldn't take long to keep personal finances up to date BUT once they are behind that is probably one of the most stressful situations, not just because of the actual impact but because of the fear factor generated by not knowing where your finances stand and the resultant feeling of not being in control. A task which may only take you 10 minutes when up to date can take literally many times that as the psychological impact can drastically inhibit our actual ability to action the task.

A few hints/tips/tricks etc which may help. Feel free to use any all or none!!

IT Advice
I am not familiar with the specifics of Palm Pocket Money etc but it sounds as though your two devices are not actually connecting. Your Palm product should have come with a disc to install the sync software on your PC/laptop. Are you sure you are running the correct version of the relevant software for your products on both your Palm and your PC? If they are connecting and just not synchronising then if you google something along the lines of "sync Palm PocketMoney Quicken" you should be able to find a specific discussion forum to answer the question. The amount of time needed to sync would be unlikely to be very long but there should always be some indication that the process is taking place.

Data Entry
My recommendation would definitely be to enter the data on your laptop. A Palm device is not designed for lengthy entry but for accessing and/or adding data on the move and a lot of the visual helps of a system like Quicken (or Quickbooks or MS Money) will not be practically available on a Palm sized product.

You mention reasons for not using the laptop being "I would have to collect it from upstairs, bring it to our dining table, hook up the broadband connection, log into Quicken, etc. Quicker to enter straight into Palm". Apart from the fact that I would seriously question whether it is "quicker to enter straight into Palm" you may want to consider whether (a) you can find a place where the laptop can be worked at and left set up and (b) use a wireless connection for accessing your Broadband. It is probably less difficult or expensive to set up a wireless network than you think (if the laptop does not have wireless capabilities that can normally be overcome with an external USB device, but age and capacity of the laptop may of course be a factor). If the dining table is the ideal place to work then the first step in you "update accounts" project can just be "set up workspace on dining table".

Specific Tips for Personal Finance Project

(a) Set up a check list to keep track of where you are and what needs to be entered in Quicken
e.g.
Credit Cards
Card 1, Card 2, Card 3 etc
Loans
Loan 1, Loan 2
Income
Income 1, Income 2
Direct Debits
Council Tax, Mortgage/Rent
Etc etc

This can be set up easily in Excel or similar and if you tick off items as completed you will always know where you were if you stop and start the project.

(b) If Quicken has the facility, set up as many items as "recurring transactions" as possible. It then takes seconds to enter each one.

(b) Set up a filing system so that all of papers are to hand when you have the time to enter your data. e.g. A lever arch file for all paper based invoices etc using a Jan-Dec set of dividers; keep a separate folder on your PC for any digital statements (would recommend printing them to PDF when notified by your bank/utility provider etc.); receipts can be kept in a simple system such as envelopes labelled by month and kept in a shoebox or suchlike.

(c) A paper-based log can make data entry easier. Using a standard cash book to write out the basic info you need can save time. For example, if you have several bank/credit card accounts to reconcile, a simple list of "opening balance" "closing balance" "interest" & "charges" is a lot easier to refer to than actually picking up the statement , locating the information on what may be a multi page statement, and then entering it - and it is actually quicker. In addition, if you just add that info into the book as your post is received, you will have a location to refer to if you need a quick overview of last balances etc without having to access your laptop or Palm.

Also look at how you use your Debit/Credit card. Cards are very quick and easy but if use your cards for minor purchases e.g. sandwich at lunch time, minor shopping etc., each results in a transaction into Quicken in order to reconcile a statement. One extra cash withdrawal is quicker to enter than 10 minor purchase transactions (and helps to keep track of spending more easily).

Sorry Sandy, a pretty long post but hope something may be of help. Feel free to ask if you want any more tips ......

Good luck and it WILL get done!

Hi Sandy,

I can understand what you say about limited amounts of time. Mark and Christine gave some good advice, I'll add my own as someone who has kept personal finances in MS-Money for ten years.
- think about why you are using Quicken v. the benefits you get
- think very carefullly about what benefits you get from adding a backlog or past info. It may be a better use of time to just prepare to start from 1 February and hence no backlog!
- get all you regular payments as direct debit, and enter them in Quicken as such
- use an online accoutn from which you can download statements electronically, which are then automatically posted against your manual entries. This saves a lot of time on monthly reconiclliation.
- minimise the number of accounts you have
- create a plastic folder labelled finance and put all papers arriving into it, and all receipts
- once a week process that folder: enter the receipts, and any cheques.
- once a month download the statements / paper once received and do the reconciliations
- if you use categories keep them simple, otherwise you'll spend a lot of time trying to find the right ones for every transaction.

In the past I've also spent two hours a week on personal finances, but now have reduced this signciantly - the beenfits of having it all on a PC are way below the value of that time.

Good luck
Jonathan

Jonathan raises some very good points. The important thng is to be incontrol in this area - if you need an electronic format, or if for you the benefits outweigh the time factor (for me they do as they feed business records) then by all means stick with it but if not then "ye olde quill pen" worked very well in "ye distante past"

Hi All,

Just a few quick observations (I've just joined this gang and so I'm in catch up mode ;-)

Someone (I think it might have been Peter Drucker) made the observation that it is more important to be EFFECTIVE than EFFICIENT. IOW, doing the best thing now is more important than getting lots of things done. To that end, drawing a line and keeping current while working the backlog when possible is the way to go, it seems to me.

On finances: YES, direct debit is the way to go. If that does not work, pay bills through your bank. I don't direct debit some things but have a recurring payment set up for the bank to make. Even in those cases where the amount varies, I have the bank pay what I calculated to be an AVERAGE amount and then I correct it before it is actually paid when I see the current bill. That way, if I'm out of town and miss a date I know that most of the bill will be paid, in the worst case, so I'll not find my furniture on the lawn when I return ;-)

The other thing about paying ALL (or as many as absolutely possible) things through your bank's bill pay system is that you can do it so much faster ... you don't have envelopes, stamps, trips to the post office, etc. to clutter up your life. You just log on anytime you are awake and type in a few numbers. Secondly, the bank guarantees the delivery ... so you end all hassles about getting to the post office on time and the payee getting it on time. So long as you set it up right, the bank takes responsibility. Finally, if you do it right, you have a much better record ... and one that can be downloaded directly into Quicken with no typing.

As to multiple lists, etc... One great thing about this system is its SIMPLICITY. I have kept multiple notebooks, divided notebooks, etc. and gotten lost in the confusion. At this moment I have two books in my pocket: My TODO book and a journal. The journal is ONLY for recording: conversations, musings, sketches, etc. It has nothing in it that has to be DONE. My small (3x5 format) TODO book is just the AutoFocus list. It does not have sections ... everything is mixed in on the theory that I have only ONE life and so it all goes in one place.

That said, there is some value to spotting certain things quickly so I'm trying to tag items ... not all of them, but special ones. Errands need to stand out so they get "[E]" prepended. Likewise [W] for things I'm waiting for (the latest being a rebate check), and "[T]" for tickler items that I need to follow up on. I hope this will work for me, but I know multiple books and lists will not. But then that is just me ;-)

One more thought on simplicity: Mark made the observation that above all it makes sense to use common sense. I suppose I COULD date every entry, and add a date when it was done. I could draw lines and have all kinds of columns ... and I have done that kind of thing in the past. The result has been more time spent fussing with the system than in doing the things on the list. (I liked that cartoon on that subject ;-) This is why only SOME items are tagged, and why I might put a date on SOME items ... if it makes any sense. For example, if I pay a bill it might make sense to note the date paid in case of a dispute. But what purpose is served by dating everything? None, for me at least.

Well, just a morning ramble as you guys get me thinking about this stuff. I've tried lots of systems over the years by my intuition has never been stronger than it is about this one. It seems so damn obvious once you start doing it.

Mike

One more thought on finances. If you are doing this in a paper notebook (as opposed to your palm pilot), just add transactions as line items to your list and check them off. I don't think that does any real violence to the system. You could put those items in brackets and then check them off when entered into your computer program. In fact, if you put a verb in front, it DOES become a TODO ;-)

Or, start from the end of your book and work toward the front for financial transactions. That would keep them separate and leave you with a running log of your spending. Or even more useful (but slightly more complicated) keep a separate page for each account and then you have, with you at all times, an account ledger. Easy Peasy ;-)

I pay my bills on Saturday morning. When I open the mail with a bill in it, it goes into a Pee-Che folder (it is a heavy paper folder with pockets on the bottom) and mine is bright yellow and marked (with large friendly letters) "Bills and Date Sensitive". It is so bright I can spot it in my inbox, and all I have to do is process that one folder on Saturday morning and the weeks bills are paid ... well, reconciled, because they are almost all paid automagically by the bank. I do have to log on to update the amount for some of them, however.

Just some thoughts.
Mike

Great posts Mike!

Jonathan in London - can you tell me now how much time you are spending on your personal finances nowadays per week? To give me something to aim towards! If I can see that I can really cut down on time taken I will feel so much better. Everyone else - good advice which I will re-read tomorrow when I've had a night's sleep to let my subconscious get to work on sifting through the ideas. Isolating the backlog is always good advice. hard to do though but I'm mulling it over. Thank you all and I will get back to you tomorrow.

Hi Sandy,

In terms of time, using DDs and some regular short bursts (pop them in your AF list), my time has come down to about three hours per month.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.