Discussion Forum > How do YOU define discretionary time?
I put EVERYTHING in my AF list when it first occurs to me. If it's something that has a far-off deadline, when it stands out to me on my list, I will think about how far before the deadline I will need to be actively working on it - and I put a reminder in my calendar for that date. (So, for example, I am giving an exam on the 31st of March. There is a reminder in iCal for the 21st of March - I know I can get the exam written in those 10 days working "little and often" - without feeling any sense of panic about getting it done on time.)
Things that are more open-ended just live in the list and get marked and re-entered as I touch them... or they don't get touched and end up dismissed, and I'll get back to them when the time is right.
Things that are more open-ended just live in the list and get marked and re-entered as I touch them... or they don't get touched and end up dismissed, and I'll get back to them when the time is right.
March 6, 2009 at 20:03 |
Sarah
Sarah
Hi Otto
The simple answer to your question regarding discretionery time is that it is time which is not committed elsewhere, time over which you have control or discretion as to how you use it. You may choose to set time blocks for specific projects within that time but ultimately you have the control. Non-discretionery time will be time where you have meetings, appointments or other committed activities.
Anything which can fit into such time can, and ideally should, go onto your AF list. That can include projects, routine tasks, scheduling of meetings (although not the meetings themselves), work tasks, home tasks, and fun tasks.
If you have a deadline by all means enter a reminder, whether that be in your diary or other schedule, or whatever method you would normally employ, but the task itself would normally be added to AF.
In practice, one of two things is likely to happen. The task will stand out sufficiently far in advance of the deadline, and with sufficient frequency, that it will be actioned in time for the deadline - or it won't. Obviously if the former there is no issue, but if the latter then that is when you need to look more closely at the reasons for that. Do keep in mind the fact that there is always the common sense rule - if something needs to be done now then do it now. That is your fall back as it were, and if you want to use your calendar to enter that as a future task "just in case" then that should alleviate your anxiety at this point. However, if the task is not standing out by the time you feel it should do (ie by the time you will have to action your "do it now" option) then you need to see what it is that is causing that. It may be that you feel the task is unnecessary, it may be that you resent having to do it, it may be that there is a better method to achieve the same result. Whatever the reason AF will give you the opportunity to see why you are effectively resisting it.
It can take time to get used to the way in which AF does this - and to feel able to "trust the system", especially when it seems to go against what you feel you ought to be doing. The longer you use the system the more easily you will be able to recognise those instances. I can't guarantee that it necessarily becomes easier to act on what it shows you - but it does become easier to recognise ....:-)
The simple answer to your question regarding discretionery time is that it is time which is not committed elsewhere, time over which you have control or discretion as to how you use it. You may choose to set time blocks for specific projects within that time but ultimately you have the control. Non-discretionery time will be time where you have meetings, appointments or other committed activities.
Anything which can fit into such time can, and ideally should, go onto your AF list. That can include projects, routine tasks, scheduling of meetings (although not the meetings themselves), work tasks, home tasks, and fun tasks.
If you have a deadline by all means enter a reminder, whether that be in your diary or other schedule, or whatever method you would normally employ, but the task itself would normally be added to AF.
In practice, one of two things is likely to happen. The task will stand out sufficiently far in advance of the deadline, and with sufficient frequency, that it will be actioned in time for the deadline - or it won't. Obviously if the former there is no issue, but if the latter then that is when you need to look more closely at the reasons for that. Do keep in mind the fact that there is always the common sense rule - if something needs to be done now then do it now. That is your fall back as it were, and if you want to use your calendar to enter that as a future task "just in case" then that should alleviate your anxiety at this point. However, if the task is not standing out by the time you feel it should do (ie by the time you will have to action your "do it now" option) then you need to see what it is that is causing that. It may be that you feel the task is unnecessary, it may be that you resent having to do it, it may be that there is a better method to achieve the same result. Whatever the reason AF will give you the opportunity to see why you are effectively resisting it.
It can take time to get used to the way in which AF does this - and to feel able to "trust the system", especially when it seems to go against what you feel you ought to be doing. The longer you use the system the more easily you will be able to recognise those instances. I can't guarantee that it necessarily becomes easier to act on what it shows you - but it does become easier to recognise ....:-)
March 6, 2009 at 22:01 |
Christine B
Christine B
Otto:
Discretionary time is any time when you have a choice as to what to do. If you have no choice over what to do then you don't need a time management system - you just do what you have to do as it presents itself.
Typical jobs where there is no (or very little) discretionary time are bus driver, airline pilot, shop assistant, help line, President of the United States and so on.
Time management systems are irrelevant to these types of job.
My advice on deadlines is to start on the work when you are given it, not when the deadline is looming. So enter it on the list immediately, and start work on it.
Discretionary time is any time when you have a choice as to what to do. If you have no choice over what to do then you don't need a time management system - you just do what you have to do as it presents itself.
Typical jobs where there is no (or very little) discretionary time are bus driver, airline pilot, shop assistant, help line, President of the United States and so on.
Time management systems are irrelevant to these types of job.
My advice on deadlines is to start on the work when you are given it, not when the deadline is looming. So enter it on the list immediately, and start work on it.
March 6, 2009 at 22:23 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Hi, Mr Forster,
I expect you were being facetious including "President of the United States" in your list above. But I have actually been wondering about people in that position.
Before AF, I simply did not get things done. And I always wondered, What about Napoleon? Or Sears and Roebuck? How did people like that get SO much done, and without computers, mind you.
I remember in a Dumas novel, Louis XIV going through "some papers" with a secretary and then deciding to marry a Spanish princess, quash a rebellion or peasants, and re-do the palace.
I think those papers were his AutoFocus list!
I'm being facetious, too, but, seriously, don't you think that the really major over-achievers of history must have had something like this?
I expect you were being facetious including "President of the United States" in your list above. But I have actually been wondering about people in that position.
Before AF, I simply did not get things done. And I always wondered, What about Napoleon? Or Sears and Roebuck? How did people like that get SO much done, and without computers, mind you.
I remember in a Dumas novel, Louis XIV going through "some papers" with a secretary and then deciding to marry a Spanish princess, quash a rebellion or peasants, and re-do the palace.
I think those papers were his AutoFocus list!
I'm being facetious, too, but, seriously, don't you think that the really major over-achievers of history must have had something like this?
March 7, 2009 at 4:29 |
ds
ds
ds:
Well actually I wasn't being facetious. Someone like the President or the Pope or the Queen lives a work life which is almost completely scheduled. They may have discretion over what goes into the schedule, but once it's been arranged they just go from one meeting, conference, factory opening, etc, to another. They can do this because they have staff who pick up on anything that needs doing and arrange for it to be done.
I was just reading this morning that President Obama has stopped using Twitter since his inauguration. Maybe that's because he thinks it's beneath the dignity of his office, or maybe it's because he doesn't have enough discretionary time now even to trot out a few little tweets.
On the other hand, Napoleon was famously hyperactive, and used to dictate to three or more secretaries at once!
Well actually I wasn't being facetious. Someone like the President or the Pope or the Queen lives a work life which is almost completely scheduled. They may have discretion over what goes into the schedule, but once it's been arranged they just go from one meeting, conference, factory opening, etc, to another. They can do this because they have staff who pick up on anything that needs doing and arrange for it to be done.
I was just reading this morning that President Obama has stopped using Twitter since his inauguration. Maybe that's because he thinks it's beneath the dignity of his office, or maybe it's because he doesn't have enough discretionary time now even to trot out a few little tweets.
On the other hand, Napoleon was famously hyperactive, and used to dictate to three or more secretaries at once!
March 7, 2009 at 10:27 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
I was thinking about that same thing, as I mentioned a few days ago and not it occurs to me that POTUS does not really DO anything. He DECIDES things. His entire job description is to task others to gather information who then analyze it and abstract the results into a summary and bring recommendations to him, which he then uses to DECIDE what is to be done -- then he tasks them to do it. The only time he really DOES any thing is when he gives a speech or signs legislation.
So his day is really driven by other people as he tasks them and they brief him. He has NO time of his own. If he is to do his job effectively he must keep people flowing past him continually and stopping to play on the computer would be very costly in terms of governing.
I was somewhat amused with the whole Blackberry flap. He should not be reading email, he should be talking face to face with his advisers who he knows and can read well, and making decisions. They are the ones who should be reading email ;-)
This really also gets to the whole problem of information. At the level of POTUS, there is too much information for any mind to expose itself to, let alone digest. But the flip side is that working from briefings and digests leaves him disconnected from the source of the information and so there is some considerable danger that he will find himself working only from information filtered by the beliefs and agendas of others. (Thus the stories of kings going out among the population in disguise to find out what was really going on.)
I know the vision of the "peopleless office" (making decisions purely based on facts) can be seductive, but when the job is all about people, that can never happen.
So his day is really driven by other people as he tasks them and they brief him. He has NO time of his own. If he is to do his job effectively he must keep people flowing past him continually and stopping to play on the computer would be very costly in terms of governing.
I was somewhat amused with the whole Blackberry flap. He should not be reading email, he should be talking face to face with his advisers who he knows and can read well, and making decisions. They are the ones who should be reading email ;-)
This really also gets to the whole problem of information. At the level of POTUS, there is too much information for any mind to expose itself to, let alone digest. But the flip side is that working from briefings and digests leaves him disconnected from the source of the information and so there is some considerable danger that he will find himself working only from information filtered by the beliefs and agendas of others. (Thus the stories of kings going out among the population in disguise to find out what was really going on.)
I know the vision of the "peopleless office" (making decisions purely based on facts) can be seductive, but when the job is all about people, that can never happen.
March 7, 2009 at 13:28 |
Mike
Mike
Great post Mike!
especially "This really also gets to the whole problem of information. At the level of POTUS, there is too much information for any mind to expose itself to, let alone digest. But the flip side is that working from briefings and digests leaves him disconnected from the source of the information and so there is some considerable danger that he will find himself working only from information filtered by the beliefs and agendas of others. (Thus the stories of kings going out among the population in disguise to find out what was really going on.)"
As a society with so much information available, managing that information becomes a job (or several jobs) in itself.
especially "This really also gets to the whole problem of information. At the level of POTUS, there is too much information for any mind to expose itself to, let alone digest. But the flip side is that working from briefings and digests leaves him disconnected from the source of the information and so there is some considerable danger that he will find himself working only from information filtered by the beliefs and agendas of others. (Thus the stories of kings going out among the population in disguise to find out what was really going on.)"
As a society with so much information available, managing that information becomes a job (or several jobs) in itself.
March 7, 2009 at 13:52 |
Christine B
Christine B
In response to the original post -- when I have a deadline a few weeks away, I add it to AF (noting the deadline at the end of the text, e.g., "Fix machine by 4/1". ) But I might also add it to my calendar, to my tickler file, or to an Outlook reminder, say a week before the deadline. That way, I'll enter it into AF again, just in case it didn't get done already.
Also, I scan my whole list from time-to-time, and if there are any looming deadlines that haven't been actioned yet, I make a duplicate of the item at the end of the list. This step brings the item to the most active part of the AF book and also ensures I'll see the item more than once as I cycle through the pages.
This really helps me not to miss deadlines and to take action "often and early".
Also, I scan my whole list from time-to-time, and if there are any looming deadlines that haven't been actioned yet, I make a duplicate of the item at the end of the list. This step brings the item to the most active part of the AF book and also ensures I'll see the item more than once as I cycle through the pages.
This really helps me not to miss deadlines and to take action "often and early".
March 10, 2009 at 4:07 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
What does POTUS mean?
March 11, 2009 at 20:25 |
Carol Davis-Wilkie
Carol Davis-Wilkie
As a Non-American I would guess "President Of The United States"
March 11, 2009 at 21:28 |
Christian G.
Christian G.
As an American, I'd guess the same thing. :-)
March 11, 2009 at 23:28 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
In response to original post, I add these items to my list and put the due date at the end, highlighted. If it is a particularly close deadline, or I think I am likely to ignore it, I will tcikle it as well (I use Things for this, but I have used a Calender called "tickler" with automatic alerts in the past).
March 12, 2009 at 0:08 |
DrCris
DrCris
Yes, and there is also SCOTUS "Supreme Court of the United States". We do love our acronyms ;-)
March 12, 2009 at 21:05 |
Mike
Mike
Hmmm - personally I always quite enjoyed POETS day .....
March 12, 2009 at 22:05 |
Christine B
Christine B
I have lived my entire life in the US and I had to read the thread a few times before I figured out what they meant by "POTUS".
March 13, 2009 at 1:15 |
moises
moises
What does AF mean?
February 9, 2021 at 15:15 |
Anusha
Anusha
Anusha
It stands for Autofocus, or Autofocus 1 as it is now. See under the “TM Systems” tab.
It stands for Autofocus, or Autofocus 1 as it is now. See under the “TM Systems” tab.
February 9, 2021 at 16:10 |
IanS
IanS
What exactly is discretionary time? I mean, in the long run practically every task has a deadline up to which it must be done. So, if AF deals with tasks to be done in one's discretionary time, what is discretionary time?
My problem is that if I have a task that must be done, say, in three weeks time, in principle I could do it at any time until the final date/time for execution (deadline). Therefore, should I enter it in my AF list, should I add it in a tickler system or should I add an entry in my calendar on the date of the deadline or earlier?
If I don't trust my system (or me) to catch the task in time and complete it by the deadline, then I feel that I must enter it in my calendar as a future task. Entering it in my calendar provides me with a reassurance that I WILL see it and deal with it before the deadline. But if I do this, then I feel that I'm not using AF to the optimum degree.
All above comments do not relate exclusively to AF, but they also apply to other systems, such as GTD.
How do you manage tasks that are not imminent as far as date or time is concerned?