Discussion Forum > Speed in learning AF, and ease of maintenance
Agreed, 100%.
With GTD you are demanded to make a decision about an item when the item shows up. Because you usually don't have enough information to make a good decision about the item, you park it somewhere on one of your lists. Unconciously you know that this is a kind of self-deception and you start to tweak your system to handle all the different shapes and sizes in which those items came into your system.
With Autofocus you park the new item on your list and know you haven't decided yet. After revisiting the item several times you can decide if you want to do something about it (e.g. get more information) or throw it out of your list.
With GTD you are demanded to make a decision about an item when the item shows up. Because you usually don't have enough information to make a good decision about the item, you park it somewhere on one of your lists. Unconciously you know that this is a kind of self-deception and you start to tweak your system to handle all the different shapes and sizes in which those items came into your system.
With Autofocus you park the new item on your list and know you haven't decided yet. After revisiting the item several times you can decide if you want to do something about it (e.g. get more information) or throw it out of your list.
January 21, 2009 at 8:35 |
Rainer
Rainer
Wow - 2 years! Am I glad I didn't get the GTD T-Shirt - with my procrastination I'd be 6 feet under by the time I'd got it sussed! Rainer, I think your comment "With GTD you are demanded to make a decision about an item when the item shows up." sums up for me why I would have so much resistance to GTD as a system - the fact that it was telling me what to do!
January 21, 2009 at 9:16 |
Christine B
Christine B
Christine:
I've found that with just about every time management system I've ever tried (including the ones I've developed myself) that there comes a time when the system is telling me to do something and there is nothing on God's earth that is going to get me to do it!
With AF that moment never comes.
I've found that with just about every time management system I've ever tried (including the ones I've developed myself) that there comes a time when the system is telling me to do something and there is nothing on God's earth that is going to get me to do it!
With AF that moment never comes.
January 21, 2009 at 15:34 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Mark
That's so true. I had to laugh at the fact that I realised my reluctance to stacking/unstacking the dishwasher was purely down to the fact that I had told myself when I should do it. Since Jan 5 I have had no reluctance to that task whatsoever!
That's so true. I had to laugh at the fact that I realised my reluctance to stacking/unstacking the dishwasher was purely down to the fact that I had told myself when I should do it. Since Jan 5 I have had no reluctance to that task whatsoever!
January 21, 2009 at 21:02 |
Christine B
Christine B
TWO YEARS!
I'm already feeling like Autofocus is second nature, in less than two weeks!
When I get interrupted by a new task, instead of jumping right into it (which I used to do), I find it really easy to just add it to my AF list. I can do that because it's really simple (just jot it down, no thinking about @context, Next Actions, and all that), and I have enough confidence in the system, that the task will really be addressed.
And when I sit down at my desk to work, instead of first checking my email, or wasting time in some other way, I really can't wait to start working through my AF list. It really is *fun* to work through my list, and see how much I get done.
Besides the quick and easy ramp-up to real productivity, I also don't feel the resistance I've always felt with other systems a few days or weeks after getting started. As soon as something overwhelms the system (emergency project; vacation; just letting the maintenance slide for a few days; or just finding that your life is too complex for the system to handle), you fall back to your old "default" mode, and it becomes difficult to start up the system again -- just too hard to remember how the system works again, and where you left everything before the major interruption occurred.
I haven't had that problem at all with Autofocus. I had to drop it for a couple days because I was sick, and found it extremely easy to get right back into it. In fact, I was able to just keep adding tasks, even when I was sick, since it's so easy just to jot things down. You aren't forced to deal with all the metadata and supporting structure required by other systems.
It was very interesting listening to that podcast, and wondering how in the world GTD people can live with all that overhead!