Get Everything Done

Great idea Mark!

Yesterday I did a task to review a new software product. I created a new task to buy the product. Will I buy it? Maybe, maybe not!

I agree. I am waiting to see if I need a book I was tempted to buy on impulse.

Just saw this on the Very Short List site:

How We Decide - Jonah Lehrer - Very Short List
"Lehrer — the author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist and a regular contributor to VSL:SCIENCE — has spent the past few years exploring the neural machinery behind our decision-making processes: a network of dopamine-sensitive cells in the brain’s emotional and cognitive centers, which tie feelings and reason together so closely that the two operate almost as one. According to Lehrer, correct decisions require an awareness of both halves of the equation — and a perfect balance of visceral response and cognitive knowledge."
http://www.veryshortlist.com/vsl/daily.cfm/review/938/Book/how-we-decide/?tp

Seems a very good description of AF!

Interesting.....

I'm wondering what this is saying - having been prompted by AF to sort my paper filing, I bought a set of filing trays specifically for my paper backlog. When I removed the bar code labels on the trays they stated on them "Ultra Resistant". How did they know what I wanted them for? Now is that weird or not! .........

I think this is how Phlegmatic personalities (those who fear conflict as the result of their decisions) make choices all the time (though probably not on paper). They just wait and see which one (if any) gets done! I am finding that AF is helpful in preventing you from doing tasks immediately that will end up being deleted from your list. For example, I had a task to find a video for a church service coming up. If I had been using DIT, I would have spent time looking for that video and maybe even preparing it. On my AF list, it didn't stand out for a few days and in the meantime I learned that there was no time in the service for the video! It's the old "backlogs naturally shrink" phenomenon, but unlike GTD the tasks don't languish there forever.

That's interesting Mel, I've had a few tasks that have just died of natural causes.

That is very interesting. I'm hoping that a large proportion of my tasks will just fall off the edge of the table through lack of action. I've got 36 items on my list at the moment. As an aside I should admit right here that I lost my first list!! I had to start writing another this morning and I'm up to 36 already. One of my tasks is to find my old list but whether I'll bother or not I don't know. If things are that urgent they're probably in my mind somewhere. I like the fact that it's taken for granted that some items will never be done. That's the way I've always worked.
All that I really want from any system is to feel that I'm actually moving my life forward, even if only very slowly, rather than feeling a bit trapped by the routine tasks. So far that hasn't happened. I would have a bit more time at the moment if I wasn't reading this forum, but it has been invaluable and very enjoyable so I will keep reading for the time being and trust that I'll know when to stop!

Taoism has a concept known as "Wu Wei", which amounts to doing without doing or "non-doing".

The idea is that there are three, not two, sides to every decision.

1. Do it
2. Don't do it
3. Deliberately do nothing - "non-doing"

In the Western World, I think this is often overlooked.

Sometimes I think folks think they are procrastinating when they are actually practising wu-wei (non-doing) intuitively.

I find that AF is remarkably good at allowing you to utilize this third option.

That's really helpful - thanks for that Frank - and for the example Mark.

Very helpful. Thank you. I've often thought and felt that sometimes the best idea is just to wait until you feel "ready" to do certain things. Your subconscious will use the extra time to work on the issue and when it's ready things will start to happen of their own accord. This never fails. You may not even realise you've started to finally work on the issue. Things may just start to fall into place.

It's so true Sandy. I've found that before but never been able to work out how got to that point. It was also easier to go back to the "I ought" process. AF has amazingly provided a tool to get you straight to that point, as effortlessly as everything else starts to become.

Mark,

"The Zen of AutoFocus"? LOL ;-) What a great book title.

<< AF is designed to help *me* to make better decisions by balancing my rational and intuitive minds.>>

It's entertaining to re-cast this in the light of Taoism, perhaps in this way...

The rational mind is the being and doing, the intuitive mind the non-being. The better decisions come from doing things in right timing, in accordance with a natural reality to the situation, rather than striving for productivity. This might be achieved by

- a daily emptying of the mind. it is the emptiness of the cup or the bowl that makes it useful, not its form. if we have too much worry or fear or desire we will likely not go with our nature
- time to be receptive to Identify the right timing, and do it
- avoiding seeking busyness to avoid seeming lazy, or seeking admiration, which distorts the reality of things

Instead of revolving around personal desires wuwei returns our attention on the laws of nature.
What determines what is to be done is not our ego desire to act, it is the natural reality of the situation. Unless the laws of nature warrant us to do something, we could allow and do nothing.

...the aim being to become one with the activity, losing self-consciousness. It may be that the Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow metaphor is a helpful understanding, but perhaps doesn't offer a reliable guide as to how to achieve this "Flow" state. Meditation I suppose is one way.