Discussion Forum > Starting again..
Steve,
You have written (on other threads) that you are a votary of Fiore's Now Habit. If I understand your current practice, each day you block off time on your calendar for rewarding activities. My "tip" for you is to add these activities to your AF list. And as soon as you do a rewarding activity and cross it off the list, add it again to the end of the list.
The other tip, is not really a tip. It is a reiteration of what I view to be the essence of AF: little and often. Without little and often, AF would be worthless to me. You can cross an item off the list if you open the computer file and look at it for 10 seconds. Then rewrite it at the end of the list.
In his DIT book, Mark outlines his fundamental principles. I would like to add a principle to that list: the law of inertia. Newton told us that an object in motion tends to stay in motion; and an object at rest tends to stay at rest. Both of these inertial tendencies can be overcome by an outside force. "In motion" is a metaphor for "at work." "At rest" is a metaphor for "not working." "An object" is a metaphor for "a person." "Outside force" is a metaphor for either "time-sensitive commitment" or "AF list."
Translation: a person at work tends to stay at work unless they have an external time-sensitive commitment. A person not working tends to stay not working unless they have an AF list to remind them.
Intellectually, I learned a lot from reading Fiore. I would summarize those learnings thusly: (1) set aside time for rewarding activities, and (2) keep on starting. My problem with Fiore was that although his principles are valid, his methods never worked for me. AF _has_ enabled me to put those Now Habit principles into practice. First, I always have rewards (visiting this forum, reading the newspaper, etc.) on my list. Second, I can't do AF without continually starting.
I wish you the best of luck in your new endeavor with AF.
You have written (on other threads) that you are a votary of Fiore's Now Habit. If I understand your current practice, each day you block off time on your calendar for rewarding activities. My "tip" for you is to add these activities to your AF list. And as soon as you do a rewarding activity and cross it off the list, add it again to the end of the list.
The other tip, is not really a tip. It is a reiteration of what I view to be the essence of AF: little and often. Without little and often, AF would be worthless to me. You can cross an item off the list if you open the computer file and look at it for 10 seconds. Then rewrite it at the end of the list.
In his DIT book, Mark outlines his fundamental principles. I would like to add a principle to that list: the law of inertia. Newton told us that an object in motion tends to stay in motion; and an object at rest tends to stay at rest. Both of these inertial tendencies can be overcome by an outside force. "In motion" is a metaphor for "at work." "At rest" is a metaphor for "not working." "An object" is a metaphor for "a person." "Outside force" is a metaphor for either "time-sensitive commitment" or "AF list."
Translation: a person at work tends to stay at work unless they have an external time-sensitive commitment. A person not working tends to stay not working unless they have an AF list to remind them.
Intellectually, I learned a lot from reading Fiore. I would summarize those learnings thusly: (1) set aside time for rewarding activities, and (2) keep on starting. My problem with Fiore was that although his principles are valid, his methods never worked for me. AF _has_ enabled me to put those Now Habit principles into practice. First, I always have rewards (visiting this forum, reading the newspaper, etc.) on my list. Second, I can't do AF without continually starting.
I wish you the best of luck in your new endeavor with AF.
January 24, 2009 at 16:03 |
moises
moises
Good luck, Steve.
I had to start several times before I got the hang of it. What worked for me was releasing my preconceptions of how my time and tasks were *supposed* to be managed, and just tried trusting AF to see how it would reconfigure things. It doesn't work like other systems, and expecting it to was just frustrating. Start with a few items, let it grow organically, put fun stuff on there too, and see what happens.
I had to start several times before I got the hang of it. What worked for me was releasing my preconceptions of how my time and tasks were *supposed* to be managed, and just tried trusting AF to see how it would reconfigure things. It doesn't work like other systems, and expecting it to was just frustrating. Start with a few items, let it grow organically, put fun stuff on there too, and see what happens.
January 24, 2009 at 17:11 |
Beth
Beth
I am going to spend the next couple of days just reading through the forums, but if anybody has any specific hints/tips/pointers that I should consider for my ‘fresh start’ approach. Then please let me know.
All the best
Steve