Get Everything Done

Tried the paper method this AM but found my handwriting (too messy) and repetitive rewriting of tasks to be a chore.

So I've turned to TaskPaper. Curious... for those who are using elec methods for AF... do you keep one pager per 25-35 items (hence multiple elec pages) or do you have one long elec page?

I use 32 items per page as my original notebook had 32 lines. HTH

So you have multiple TaskPaper pages open at a time?

I'll be curious to hear what other TaskPaper users have to say. I've been keeping to paper for AF so far, but I do feel the pull.

ds

Hi,

I would like to know if someone can point me in the right direction. I am a user of the Iphone and for once everything at the same place, I love it. I would like to try Autofocus with my iPhone, but I dont know which of the hundreds To-Do or List software to choose from. Any work around or solutionÉ

Thanks

I have been a user of Things, but I must admit that it doesn't put you into the AF mindset since the program (and Omnifocus) rely on giving you customized views of your lists and sublists. Where AF shines in the short time that I have used it is that you are constantly reviewing all of your actions and allowing your brain to pull the items that *Stand Out* (certainly the most powerful aspect of this system).

Task paper is just about as close to using my Moleskine as it gets, although I am a relative newbie with this program. The idea of "pages" is more difficult to implement since the program will simply keep scrolling as you add to end of the list, and I am not sure how to impose a "line limit" to it. I started playing with it today, and created a separate file for work and home. The "Project" (read: Page) is the date that I start that particular list (I put the date at the top of each of my handwritten pages). After a physical count of my actions, any other action above 32 gets put into a new project (if it's the same day, I followup up the date with a letter eg: 02-12-09 and 02-12-09a [yes, I'm American]).

If I can find some way for Taskpaper to limit the number of actions to 32 in a Project, I would be extremely happy since the counting step is tedious. Taskpaper is tag-enabled, but I am fleeing from the complexity of Things and Omnifocus, so the only tags I am using are @done (taskpaper throws a nifty date stamp next to this one), @waiting, and @dismissed.

The most obvious benefit of using Taskpaper over my moleskine is the fact that everything is searchable (eg - when did I pay my property taxes again?). The most obvious downside is that my moleskine is pocketable, and my mac is not. The software developer is currently working on an iPhone app which would solve this dilema. I would be very curious to see how others are using this program with AF. Here is a screenshot for my list today: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7925615@N07/?saved=1

TaskPaper & AF work great together. Completed tasks receive a strikethrough and date... wicked!

Thanks for the pixs palletguru

Taskpaper gets even better. Changed theme to "Things Inspired," evoked the Project View (projects are pages), resized the window to only allow 32 actions (once the scroll bar appears, that's when I know to create a new page). Very happy with it so far - going on my third day of Autofocus with Taskpaper.

Here is a screenshot of my latest Taskpaper setup:

http://flickr.com/photos/7925615@N07/3275572728/in/photostream/

I'm back to using taskpaper. The entire discussion concerning project management and weekly review made paper a liability. I tried monitoring how I was doing with AF this week, and my paper system provided little detail. With copy/paste coming for iPhone 3.0, and taskpaper for iPhone coming out in the next month or so, I will not miss having an additional notebook and pen open on a table while trying to do work - creative or otherwise.

Hi i like taskpaper very much and. WOrked a lot with it. It is with omnifocus the best gtd Soft i ever tried. The problem is about the management of items wich becomes difficult if you have a Lot of items
Paper is for now the best adaptable and.customizable system
Yes software are easy to collect and extract items but in my case it just kill the best of me ie my intuition. So i become indeed carefull about it and use it by now for non essential items

TaskPaper users: how do you start a new page? Do you create a new heading in TaskPaper? Or open an entirely new document?

Also, do you take advantage of TP's nesting or outlining capabilities? Or use it just as a straight list?

I'm curious because it's been my "almost there" AF solution, but I've never quite worked out a system with it yet.

>>TaskPaper users: how do you start a new page?

I resize the taskpaper window to only allow 25 items per page. When the page is full (once the scroll bar appears), I create a "new project" entitled "page (insert #). To show your pages in the left column of Taskpaper, go to View > Show Project List. And then you click on the page you want to view, and all other page info is hidden. Brilliant, huh? (thanks to palletguru for this tip).

>> Also, do you take advantage of TP's nesting or outlining capabilities?>>

I add notes (when necessary), and tag information: @waiting and/or roles I play i.e. @therapist, @consultant

When I start working on an item, I highlight the item (drag mouse over text), and when I'm finished, I copy the info, paste it on the "last page", and mark it off as done.

So simple, clear and pleasing to the eye.

Autofocus discussion taking place here:
http://groups.google.com/group/taskpaper/browse_thread/thread/171caaac2b36bf9f/34cea442c05ff25c#34cea442c05ff25c

@ palletguru

in my test number 15868008 ;)) since 3 days i am trying using autofocus more efficiently with Taskpaper.

My purpous is
1. Be able to collect, complete, sort and use AF easier
2. Avoid my writing wich is not so clear even for me sometime
3. Add item , info werever in the rush
4. Work faster , add tasks, process, analyse in a GTd way but keep AF rules too.

So I did things like this

090617 (Wednesday) :
.Notes
- Task / (P)XXXXXX = Projet XXXXXX ) @Call M.TOTO (name)

The result is interesting
- I work faster
- It's easier than omnifocus and more intuitive. A too rigid system make me procrastrinate...
- And i can search in any way
- I notice that it was much efficient to work on project, people, context

I keep the 2 readings and the report of item
I dismiss task for the moment putting them in italic.
I keep the all page dissmiss with the X and when it is over ⊗

I am still testing but at the moment i am more productive than on paper.

Little mistake
For dissmissing task do at the beginning @Dissmiss
For searching what is not dissmiss do in the search field not @Dissmiss

Here's an old thread about using Things to implement AF:

http://markforster.squarespace.com/forum/post/623232#post634000

In my initial post there, I was being a bit dim about the issue of how to limit the number of items per page, so read my second entry, too. There's also some discussion of using Omnifocus there (which some prefer, but which I haven't tried).

Things (and Omnifocus) are already available for the iPhone. I work with Things on my laptop most of the time, and use the iPhone only when I'm elsewhere, and it works pretty well for me (still). If you were trying to run AF entirely on the iPhone, though (H-F?), neither of the solutions to the items-per-page problem I described on the other thread would work, so that might be more of a problem.

Palletguru: If you use Things to do AF in the way I described on the other thread, you can just ignore the more complex options Things gives you; I don't find it any sort of impediment to being in the AF mindset. (My only tags are 'Kate' (things I need to talk to my wife about), 'errand', and 'department' (so I can easily check for things I can only do when I'm at my office, when I am), but the vast majority of my items are untagged.)

I haven't tried Taskpaper, though, so no comparative claims being made here. Just point out that there are ways of dealing with the items-per-page issue in Things, and that Things can be used in quite a simple and minimal way to implement AF.

I red a great article somewhere but i dont remember where and who wrote it. So please if your recognize you be indulgent !

Basicaly it said "Stop looking to the latest management system, works with the tools you have".

I love the sentence. I spent too much time looking at the perfect system. Now i do mine with the tools i have it's much better. No perfect but i dont loose time discovering stuff and so on...

Of course sometime i like testing a little one but i really think this advice is indeed pertinent.

;)) right Mark !

Jupiter - I agree, the search for the perfect time management system can be another procrastination activity.

Hi Jupiter
Although I sometimes need to create a new tweak to lure my donkey brain into working, what I'm actually doing is tweaking the stuff between my ears! LOL!
learning as I go

p.s.
When I realize that I'm avoiding something, that's my cue to at least start chipping away at it....it's no cure, but it certainly works well enough to keep it at bay. My 30' peace contract takes care of this first thing every morning. The trick is to be ruthlessly honest when creating the day's peace contract. I love it when there's nothing compelling to attack!that morning!!! Then I simply start my current initiative.
learning as I go

"works with the tools you have"

Er, if you change the above rule to read: "work with the rules you have" - something Mark stresses - you'd have little activity on this forum. The constant chit chat about tweaking AF and/or minutiae of how to implement the system i..e what size dot to use, seems to support procrastination and avoidance as well. Or perhaps we're all trying to find the best system to suit our needs.

I can tell you that Taskpaper has been an absolute lifesaver for implementing AF. I've been using TP & AF for 3 weeks without a thought about going back to paper or another elec software/device.

Hi Avrum
.....or.....we're simply using this forum to provide a break that keeps us focused on completing our work rather than daring to visit sites that might unintentionally titilate our monkey mind. Breaks are necessary to maintain peak efficiency. Visiting this site is an ideal break because it's fast and concise, (no black holes to fall into) and keeps my mind focused on my goal: completing my units of work. The social commaraderie offered here is unbeatable in my opinion. This site has both an enjoyable and useful atmosphere.
learning as I go

learning as I go - I love this site. But we should be humble about the various ways we avoid doing what we desire and/or need to do.

Ha, ha... touche David.

Er, I mean, Mark.

Hi Avrum

I'm implementing AF in OmniOutliner at present and so far so good. Pages are simply top level headings, items are second-level items. I turn on "legal numbering" so all items are numbered so I can clearly see where to create a new page. I have some different styles: done, dismissed, active task so I can clearly see the status of an item.

Now I just need an iPhone version :)

Hi Avrum
As long as I keep my conscience reconciled with what I've set out to do, I allow myself a bit of slack if I find that I need to take a circuitious route on occasion. I prefer to be streamlined, yet I'm not going to damn myself if on occasion my methods are a bit inelegant.. Bottom line, the work gets done. All in all, I feel good about getting my work done to a decent standard. On occasion, I actually allow myself to feel proud about it!!! *blush*
learning as I go

Hi all
Since 10 days i crossed the system with Omnifocus
Like Omnioutliner it allows many things and first at all it is easy to manage projetcts and items. I have realised that to be fully operationnal i had to show in contexts nothing but the active tasks. Then i work in omnifocus way as i did before.
The main difference is about how i make it operational. I found a lot of difficuties about working on my tasks on a computer in omnifocus but also on taskpaper. May be i am allergic to digital management ;))
So at night i just go on context sort by Context, start, end date and paste and copy tasks on a .doc file then i complete all and i realised that many tasks i planed by context wer'nt in OF...
So i obtain a double sheet with only but actionable items.
Then during the day i only have this sheet were i report my diary task and appointments
and work on it with this time in AF way.
At night i update all my info in OF
The advantage is beeing able to work on project in a GTD way, working by context on a focus activable project or tasks and dissmiss during the day what has to be.
I also created a contet dissmiss in AF were i put all dissmiss tasks including those i find during my review. Another adavantage is havng it on my iphone so i can update OF in my spare time and advance in my review and planification.
Hope this help for OF users...