Get Everything Done

In Week 2 I saw the real potential inherent in AF. I trashed my old notebook and got a 34-liner. I also pulled my 20-item list of recurrent tasks out of the AF list. Many of them were semi-time-sensitive. The whole system worked much more smoothly, and I felt much more relaxed, knowing that I had my recurrent task list in front of me at all times, regardless of what page I was on in my AF list.

In many ways, this is like Mark's latest recommendation to use an index card for urgent items. The urgent list becomes a second list outside of the AF list.

When I did DIT, I started to appreciate the power of Little and Often. The night before I would put a difficult task on my tomorrow list. It was easy to put it on the list. When tomorrow came I would do something on the difficult task. Sometimes a lot; sometimes a little. But the key benefit was that inertia was overcome and I was getting things moving.

AF leverages Little and Often to a much greater degree. It's taken me some time to get used to. Sometimes I feel frustrated because I want to spend more time on something, but I know that other items need tending to. Yet I know that I am doing much better with AF than with any prior system, because it really is a good idea to get started early on hard tasks to get those creative juices flowing.

People have had a few threads about putting rewards, or procrastinating activities, in AF. For me, this has been essential to the success of AF. I learned a while ago that it's good to take breaks. It's not good to demand of myself that I work nonstop everyday. What is not good is to lose all sense of balance and proportion and spend long stretches of time on nonwork. In my ideal, I work, then take a short break to recharge my batteries, and then work some more. AF has gotten me closer to this ideal than any other system precisely because I put the fun stuff into the AF system. It's easier to work when I know that I don't have to do it for too long if I get tired and I can get to a fun activity soon if I feel that I need one. With AF I do not get distracted for long periods of time on time-wasting activities. Instead, I have my fun and get back to work. I feel that I am coming much closer to my potential than I ever have before.

Perhaps a few of you will remember that in Week 1 I gave up on AF (in my "Count Me Out" threads). Thanks to the persistence of Mark and the many enthusiastic posters here, I found a way to make it work for me. I am grateful to all of you.

That's great moises - really glad you didn't give up.

I think we're all learning more (about the system and ourselves) as we continue using it. With AF, unlike any other system I have used before, when something isn't working I am prompted to ask why it isn't working. Previously I would have assumed that either the system was useless or I was useless at following it. By looking at why something isn't working for me I can now start to identify whether I am doing the wrong thing, or just looking at it in the wrong way.

Looking forward to learning more as i go along! .........

Two weeks in and I have to say this is working out better than I first thought it might. Enough so I see that it could definitely help me if I started using it at home. So far, I've kept to the plain vanilla of a wirebound notebook, not my beloved Miquelrius or netbook. And I like it. I had done something similar in the Miquelrius but lacked the constant review and working off the list. It was originally intended to be a repository for notes/tasks that I would later transfer to my netbook or Pocket PC and work from there.

Like others I have included random notes and jottings as well as tasks in my lists. Those are usually transferred to other appropriate places; I just didn't want to lose them in the crush of the day. One item remains on my first list of 66 items and I've noticed that lists on succeeding days have been shorter. I've yet to dismiss anything., but expect that to change. The AF list is a good way to log a day's incoming work and to some extent, gauging what a day's worth of work really looks like.

Time/date sensitive tasks, appointments and deadlines are tracked either digitally or via paper (planner/index card). Often these make their first appearance on the AF list. I transfer them to the appropriate place and sometimes leave them on the AF list as a further tickler. I see AF as more of a methodology than a system so whatever works for one in scheduling/tracking is appropriate.

A few more weeks of trialing this and I'll have established a habit!

Hi Clay - it's a good point about AF also helping you to guage a day's work. I don't have too many notations/dates/tags or other marks on my list as I feel it inhibits me to a degree when scanning, but I do note the date of the first item of the day. I can then see at a glance how many items I am adding. Even though my list is one list of all items, whether work home or play that it is still a very useful guide. Day 1 (which was one of the day's when I have what I consider to be a full "working" day of discretionary time available, I entered 3.5 pages). Day's 2 & 3 (which are only "half discretionary days") I entered 1 page, Day 4 (a "full" day) 4 pages, and Day 5 (my nightmare day with maybe an hour or so I am lucky) only 2 items.

After week two the number of items, whilst following a similar pattern, are not so disparate in their volume. AF seems to be settling down for me, and I am finding that, by carrying a separate notebook with me when out, I can jot down tasks on the run, whether it's during waiting time, a coffee break or whenever, so that my frantic Friday list has a good number of fresh tasks (and action on others!). I am also finding that I am far less stressed about the demands on my time on my less discretionary days which makes me more relaxed generally.

I see AF settling down to find it's own level for me - I know that I have a lot of backlog items I want to add in at a later date but that will happen in due course. I know that the increases in levels of creativity are causing me to add a lot more tasks arising from those ideas than I would ever have felt comfortable with having on a standard "To Do" list, yet that is OK. I have started keeping a record of numbers of items still outstanding but to honest realise that, whilst perhaps being interesting at this stage, that is in fact for me all it is, interesting. Because a lot of the items are arising from a more creative process I expect there to be more items on my list. Does a long list mean failure? No. Does it mean overwhelm? No. My lists are NOT To Do lists or even Will Do Lists.

Like Mark's search for a one sententence description of Autofocus, they are hard to define, but for me are a repository of all of the tasks that currently make up my life, whether they are To Do's, To Buy's, hopes, wishes and aspirations, appointments, ideas or just thoughts of "maybe one day". Where will those items end up? I have no idea, but you know what? .....that really doesn't matter. What does matter is that my productivity has increased immensely. Am I procrastinating? No. Am I spending time on trivial tasks? Absolutely yes, some of my time is spent on trivial tasks BUT those are all tasks that needed doing! The fact that something is perceived to be a trivial task does not negate it's level of importance - take the current batch of TV adverts regarding checking the battery on your smoke alarm for an excellent example. Is AF helping me to get my life in balance and to maintain focus - absolutely YES! Thanks Mark!

Mark - ROTFL - now I know what it means!! :-)