Get Everything Done

Tagging ruins it, for me. It is excessive and creates a bloated system.

First, AF works. It works better for getting things done than anything I have ever tried.I have been using the AF system since day one of the beta release.

I thought I'd share my recent experience with finding the edge of the boundary between where the system works successfully and where my compulsion to complicate scuttles the entire AF process.

I have been experimenting with tags in both my paper AF list and in my parallel computer lists. I wanted to use as few tags as possible to keep it simple, so I just used the "call" tag to indicate phone calls that needed to be made. It made sense to me that when I am on the move driving (or really, since I live in LA, the not-move driving) I could have a call list to get things done. So I added the "call" tag to my lists, but something interesting happened; the items with the "call" tag began to have a different weight or standout-ness to them. My mind scanned the page, pattern-recognized and collected these calls together into a mental grouping. By the end of the scan, I began to feel like making all the calls right now at my desk, not later when I was in the car stuck in traffic. With the calls now grouped together, and a part of my mind now advocating to make some of those calls, I was now separated from the intelligence the pure-er, non metadata AF system has and was instead stuck back in the part of my mind that flails and suffers through decisions. Without the tags, none of the calls would have stood out and I would have felt other items standing out. Without the metadata, I am connected to a more effortless intelligence that correctly chooses the most right next action to take and gives me a more effortless power to actually do that next action.

I draw from this several conclusions.
1. Metadata influences how and what items stand out.
2. The desire to add metadata is evidence of my compulsion to complicate.
3. My compulsion to complicate the AF system is the surest way to avoid getting anything done at all.
4. Tags, contexts, or other metadata will not work for me.

Henceforth I will be scanning the AF pages to extract calls into a separate list. The same will apply to shopping items. Throw everything into the AF pages and then extract sub lists.

Anybody else discover your bloat edge?

Stark,

You're right, that's why I've cut down on the number of highlight colours, now two, manageable. I think this is what Mark has tumbled on to, the harmony of rational and reactive. I cannot believe how much I have accomplished in the last few days, even after tinkering with the AF, provided the core is intact.

Stark

I found exactly what you did! I colour coded things at first. Errands, studio related, paperwork, domestic chores, etc. (I work from home) and while this was an interesting exercise in telling me the range of things I had listed, it did nothing to help Autofocus to function better. I found that if I transferred my errands to a separate list and made a new list for 'the studio' (my spare room) and left all the other tasks undifferentiated it was much better.

As you say, if I want to make some calls then it's easy enough to scan through the whole list to see what I can batch together but often this isn't even appropriate anyway. So all in all, I have found what you did that any form of 'tagging', once I'd sorted out the need for a couple of separate lists, was actually completely unnecessary. I'm glad I did it though as it did show me where separate lists would be good and also highlighted the areas I was putting off (i.e. household chores and paperwork) which I now plan to schedule some blocked off time for when I feel the need to catch up (similar to spending time working on a backlog).

After several pages of jotting down tasks that come to mind without any special wording into AF, I see how many things I have procrastinated about repairing. I made an extracted list "Things to Glue" on a left hand page of my little spiral notebook because I only use the right side pages for AF. Which ever glue-task I hit going through the pages, I will want to take care of all the broken objects at once. I don't have to see the left hand sub lists unless I've been prompted by a task on one of the right side pages.

I have five left side sub lists. "!when in the big city", "need a helper", "repairs to send out","to buy" and "to glue".

Stark - I was missing some tasks to be done on the computer, for those, I write a symbol before writing the task. It works but it doesn't mean a context in GTD terms. I think of it as kind of a "verb" or a "special word".
Hannah - someone shared his idea of using the bottom of the page to list tasks to be done in a different place and I am using this (I don't remember who said this in this forum).
Christine in Italy - I do something similar, I leave one entire page for special lists. Curiously, this does not affect AF.
Stark - I entirely agree, a experienced procrastinator never miss a chance of complicating. ; -) However, none of the things I am doing are complicating it.

Stark, I forgot to say that I liked very much your comment.

Hi Stark

I agree with you that tags disrupts the natural flow of AF. I experimented with using them in my One Note AF but ended up removing them. Your observations are a really helpful illustration.

I mentioned in another post that I bracketed my backlog items together, which for me serves a purpose at present, but I'm not convinced I will do that long term, as I think even that affects the flow. I do know that if I were to have those items on a separate list they would have the same resistance factor as under previous systems so that is not an option. I think that the fact that so many of us have backlog "lists" from other systems means that our AF lists will initially be impacted by those historic items but that they will eventually clear (by completion or dismissal), leaving AF to deal with primarily new and current tasks.

I am using separate lists (sub lists), where it seems appropriate, but still referencing them within AF. For example, if I have an item to purchase I would list it in AF as "add x to shopping list". My shopping list is in One Note as opposed to a paper list and is updated when the task stands out. I assume I will remember to print or check the list before going shopping but if I find I forget on a regular basis then I will just add a "print shopping list" task into AF. At present I don't have a separate list for calls but just add "call x" into my list. If I did have a separate list I would treat it in the same way as my shopping items, i.e. "add x to call list" but with the addition of a "calls" item as well. I suspect that some of those calls would be done rather than listed when they stood out.

Silvia's comment: "Stark - I entirely agree, a experienced procrastinator never miss a chance of complicating. ; -)"

This reminded me of something the actor/playwright Anna Deveare Smith says in her book Letters to a Young Artist, that procrastination fascinates her because it is in fact a very *active* process, not a slacking-off as many of us judge it to be. The complicating of a system, or bolting this or that process onto a simple system, is a sign of the activity that procrastination engages in.

Stephen Fry, in one of his 'blessays' (blog essays) says that there are idea-shaped solutions and human-shaped solutions. Idea-shaped solutions are well-balanced, take everything into account, and mostly fall apart or lie disused because they don't work very well. This is because we humans are messy creatures, don't like systems, are ornery, and who knows what all.

Human-shaped solutions take into account that we're forgetful, emotional, feel blah on some days, have poor memories, hate being ordered around, etc. and make allowances for that. I think AF is a human-shaped solution because it eschews a lot of the baroque ornamentation (like tags or project-mgmt or information referece) that are theoretically supposed to help us manage our tasks and projects but don't.

As with all opinions, YMMV.

Mike Brown

Very interesting observations. Makes me realise why my first reaction to the Quick Start Instructions was "That's too simple, I must have misread it", quickly followed by "That can't work, it's too simple", followed by "How can I adapt it to One Note?"

Interesting to to me is the fact that my end conclusion has been that the system works best "as is", without additions, with basic tools, and as written. Of course my desire to change something (or just my innate perfectionism!) will at somee point no doubt drive me to ensure that my AF are kept in a beautiful, aesthetically pleasing, notebook that I have scoured the world to locate, written with the finest copperplate writing (which I will by then have of course perfected as a task in AF) and using the perfect writing implement .......

To Christine B

LOL - how right you are ref. the need to change something (anything!), and given the extent of posts around the size style, make and design of the notebook you are far from alone!!

I have in this second week settled upon two notebooks one for home and one for work, am trialing the urgent items index card idea and do not tag or colour code anything, whichI agree for me it became a disctraction taking the Auto out of AutoFocus.

The system is working very well and I am continuing to be more productive and remaining calm and less stressed.

As an additional comment AF has also enable (given me permission??) to actually consider that I am really very unhappy in my current job which was also part of the reason for the backlog problems, overwhelmed feelings and procrastination. I am having to confront the "why I am not doing" certain things question and whilst it is not always an easy conversation to have with myself it is actually making me deal with underlying problems that i was clearly doing a great job at avoiding before.

Christine,

I liked your copperplate wrting comment. The first thing that caused my jaw to drop when I got into the GtD online community was the whole moleskine business. I could not believe that people were going on and on about an overpriced blank book. Then I started seeing the debates and advice about which overpriced pen was best to use to write in them. Then came the agonized pleas for advice on the "correct" ink to put in those pens.

For me, a book is "right" if the pages don't fall out and it is cheap. The pen is write if it is a ball point and does not create blobs of ink that smear. Between the perfect pen, paper and ink and the absolutely best computer, program and printer (to say nothing of the endless format discussions) there is procrastionation enough for the most discerning ;-)

Oh, and on the topic of OneNote. Does it bug you that when you are flipping between pages the cusor will not stay where you leave it? I have to assume that there is an entire department at Microsoft devoted to designing frustrations into the products. ;-)

Mike

i have to admit that I had never heard of a moleskin (and assumed at first that it was highly priced "leather type" executive toy, oops sorry tool, a la Filofax). Now of course I want one - but do I rewrite all of my existing pags? Hmmm, now there's a problem (task "review purchase of Moleskin - rewrite pages?")

Re OneNote - it's not the fact that the cursor moves it the fact that it leaves blocks of selected text. I know I originally selected it for a purpose but that purpose has long gone! Much as I love OneNote and a lot of things about MS products, there is stuff about it that just drives me nuts!!!

Off to my search for that notebook - pale Turquoise I think, with ............ :-)

titch

That's a really interesting effect of AF - I've been quite amazed at what looking at the reasons for my procrastination has revealed. Good luck with the "look at changing job" task!

I must admit that I personally prefer a nice notebook (used moleskines quite a lot, currently using a nice plain looking notebook from a Japanese department store, not expensive actually) and a nice pen (currently a fountain pen). I made the experience, that I have much more fun with nice looking tools (and therefore more likely to use it) without loosing time (I know that there is a danger to fiddle with the optical aspects of any system). Just my 2cents...

Mark

I'm afraid I have to take issue with you over your last post. Bic biros? Yuk!
:-)

My mother always uses Bic and any piece of paper. She has run so many things in her life perfectly, she is never late, all things are smoothly and well arranged.

Mark

Oh, well that's ok then - if it's a Bic Cristal ..... :-)

*blush* Will I be exiled because I use a steno pad and a.....errrrr....gulp.....#2 lead pencil?
learning as I go

learning as I go

I salute your bravery on admitting such a thing! :-)