Get Everything Done

There have been a number of threads regarding dealing with same day and urgent items. I am working with the same day concept as originally suggested in the Amendments thread, but the index card approach is not working for me either. I am playing with a couple of other options within AF which so far seem to be working for me but need to give that a few days to be sure.

However I think a major part of the concerns regarding such items is not really related to same day items - after all that is covered by the common sense rule - "if something needs to be done today then do it today!" and if the index card approach as a means of working with genuine same day items works in individual cases then great. I think, well for me at least, that it has more to do with learning to trust the system due to a fear that deadlines will be missed. For example, my tax return is due by Jan 31, the deadline is approaching and it is not complete. I am not panicking about it - I know the system works (I have even progressed the task!), I still have time to do it, and let's face it I can always do it under the common sense rule. The problem is that I "feel" I *ought* to be panicking about it and it is actually that more than anything that is causing that unease.

The other factor which is easy to forget is that of backlog. Most of us will have started AF with a backlog - it may have been a backlog that would fit into a shoe box, or a backlog that needed a warehouse to hold it - the fact remains that that backlog must of necessity have an impact. AF gives us the tool to work at full productivity which for me it is doing without any shadow of a doubt. However *I still have a backlog!*. That backlog is smaller than it was but is still there - *however* it is reducing and, more importantly, I am on top of everything new that is coming in.

Pre AF, if I had say 10 items with a deadline, I would have met those deadlines (well actually I would probably have missed some) but with a great deal of stress involved. By the time the deadline arrived, any sense of relief would be quickly lost by the realisation that, in focusing exclusively on my "panic" items, I now had an additional set of tasks with deadlines looming and a new set of stress factors vying for attention. That constant firefighting just becomes a way of life.

Now, I start with that same set of 10 items and as the deadline approaches the situation is very different. I may well find that there are things that do not get done, not through a failing of AF, but because the level of backlog made that "goal" an impossible goal. However what I am seeing is that, where that is the case, I can now recognise that and take steps to minimise the impact, and effectively clear what can be cleared, on time and without stress. AF cannot do miracles but it does enable us to do the possible - and for most of us that feels more like the impossible. Miracles take just that little bit longer ....... :-)

However the biggest impact which I think we will only see as we get further along, is that, instead of having accumulated a new set of "panic" items to replace the old ones, that they are actually not happening. The small tasks which we are clearing quickly with AF, and which we may be worrying are distracting us from the "important" stuff, are the very tasks that would have led to the new panics in the first place had they not been actioned.

If, for example, we always have a panic over expense returns each month and find ourselves spending time through AF in redesigning our system for that procedure in a way that makes the task easier, it may well not have an impact to our time frame this month but may totally eliminate the problem for every month going forward.

Just a few thought and observations .......

Hi Christine,

Yes, i have an Internet connection in southern Zambia, but it won't last!

Not just a "few" but several interesting points you make. I too have found the inner tension declining, at least relating to all those tasks. I've got a whack of backlogs in my home office when i get back, but I'm feeling more energised with AF and not at all fearful of facing up the the many tasks associated with clearing the backlog.

One of my reasons (self perception, I know!) for procrastination is thinking I must achieve a measure of perfection which I suspect, but don't really know, others expect of me. AF is reducing that feeling gradually, accelerating by hints and tips from all the folk on this forum.

I'm going to try the index card technique when I get back home next month, no cards available where I am.

David Allen is lucky he copyrighted GTD, otherwise AF could be known as that!

Quite interesting - your observations and conclusion. I would like to mention another Englishman, who is a coach in the weight loss area. His program is as effortless and effective as AF. People in the forum also noticed a big change in their attitude concerning food.I think both reduce stress and promote good health!

I am using nothing special for same day or urgent items and have almost a warehouse of backlog but things are running smoothly and on time.

About backlogs, Christine, a finding I made yesterday :

I went through my biggest mail backlog, and had the idea of applying AF pages rules to it:

I did a fast scan of the backlog to spot any outstanding items.
It made me reject a good deal of threads.
I found nothing that stand out : so I applied the other rule "if nothing stands out on that page,
* D i s m i s s * !

Oh, what a relief !

Those dismissed are in a "sleeping" folder in case one day an event makes one of them stand out. I let it sleep and no more bother with it.

Same could apply to still unread magazines, books.
... or toys that still clutter kids'room (a learning for them !)
(just a reminiscence, mine have grown, I'm out of that)

Backlogs are alike pages ready to dismiss !

That's a great idea Jacques.I have some major backlogs of paper, as well as general stuff, not just mine but my parents' to sort through. Like Silvia my various backlogs have assumed warehouse like proportions but I hadn't thought of AF'ing them in that way. Oh to get my deadline stuff out of the way so I can add my backlogs into the system ...........:-)

Oh to get my backlogs under control! If only I could bring myself to dismiss my backlog of magazines. Then I would be able to get into the spare room. I definitely have resistance to throwing "information" away. Realistically I could probably find any information I need on the internet.

Sandy, I think the key to magazines is just not to look! I can always find some article of interest if I actually look. :-) Keep the latest issue of your magazines and dismiss the rest. It's freeing! And then add "Read X magazine to your AF list."

It is hard to break some of those habits which have kept you hanging on to magazines for so long that they can probably be sold on eBay! If I find an article or recipe or something that I want I now just scan it - no more paper! But I still have those old piles of mmagazines waiting ......... :-(