Get Everything Done

I am quite new to AF. It's several weeks now since I started, up to now it was real fun to work with, but when I began, I had some rather quiet weeks, so the system has not yet proven its reliability to me under heavy duty.

In the moment, I have one large project (revise novel) and one not-so-large (write proposition for another one), both due end of this month. Plus, there are a lot of small tasks, most of no urgence at all (install new bookshelf: whether I do this tomorrow or next year does no harm), but there are some with deadlines, somewhere on my, in the moment, 14 open pages.

The problem I have no solution for is this: On a task like "revise novel", I could easily work the whole day. And the next. And the next. Small time-sensitive tasks might easily be forgotten, because there is no chance I make the circle through all my pages every day. And because of that, I feel nervous while working on that "big task", can't let myself dive totally into it... which is the point of task management, isn't it? You can fully concentrate on the one thing before you only when you're sure you won't miss or forget anything.

Therefore, I started to add reminders in my calendar to make sure I won't miss deadlines no matter what, and doing so enables me to concentrate my undiverted attention on the task at hand. This has been critized as being "emergency GTD" (see http://www.markforster.net/forum/post/701503 ) and pointless, but actually I see no other way

To have at least one big task is a very common situation for me, and in the moment I am not sure pure AF is able to handle this. AF looks as if it's ideal for someone who is driving a lot of smaller projects at the same time. But that's not my normal situation. My normal situation is: The Next Novel + the rest. One big rock + a lot of gravel.

How do others handle AF list and calendar?

Hi Andreas

It sounds as if you have now been using AF long enough to hit the "panic" point, where you are concerned that some "important" projects are not being progressed or actioned as quickly as you wish. This is a natural progression point in the process - and I would suspect that all of us who have been using AF for a period of time have hit this point!

The best answer to the problem is to "trust the system" but I realise that that sounds glib when you have very real projects causing very real concern. What I have found is that you can "trust the system" BUT at this point in the use of AF it is most likely that the way the system is working is to highlight specific issues in relation to these projects. The temptation is to just get on and do those projects in the belief that AF is not working. It may well be that you will need to just get on an do them, but not because AF isn't working but because it is. If you take some time to examine the projects from an intuitive perspective you may well identify some hidden reasons for resistance. Common reasons seem to be fear of conflict, fear of failure, being on the wrong job path or just plain too many commitments.

If you can take the time to identify the "why" you have a resistance to something that is 90% of the battle. As I say you may well still have to find a way to do it, which may involve scheduling, or time blocks, which will not be "pure" AF, but you will be in a position to perhaps make some changes to avoid future recurrences.

Remember also that AF works well on a little and often basis for larger projects. I personally found that some of my larger projects (which could have been actioned in that way) just didn't stand out prior to the "panic" point where you are now but it was that very factor that enabled me to examine to root of the problem rather than just carrying on in the same way that I always had .......

Hope that helps!

Christine,

thank you for your encouraging words. The "panic point"? Yes, may very well be. In fact, I assumed something like this to happen: Because when you start a new system, everything is new,so you are more alert, and the reservoirs are not yet filled. It takes time to reach the "cruising altitude", and only then you'll know whether the thing flies or not.

I don't think AF is not working. But in the moment, yes, I suspect there might be two commandments left out in the description... ;-)

Remember the recommendation to make sure you "touch" each page every day! If you commit to doing that, then things with more pressing deadlines CAN'T get lost if you get hyperfocused on novel revisions. Alternately, yes, there is the calendar or the index card approach.

Hi Andreas,
With only 14 pages, why would there be "no chance" you can make it through your pages every day? If you were doing 5 minutes of work on each one of those pages, that's just 70 minutes a day. Or maybe you have that little discretionary time?

Jacqueline:

Following the rules "do what you begin as long as you feel like" and "go to the next page when no more tasks stand out", it takes long to go through all pages. Especially with the first rule, and especially with writing (once I start, I tend to forget time ;-D)...

To pick one task per page to work just 5 minutes on it feels artificially to me. I'd rather LOOK through the pages to see if something's burning, but then again, I'm better off with an entry in a calendar that reminds me of deadlines and time-critical tasks.

Hi Andreas

You are absolutely right in that AF works best when we can indeed work on the task "for as long as we feel like" but sometimes there is a need to limit that time for purely practical purposes. Otherwise the starving artist might literally starve as he forgets to eat!

A way of managing that in AF may be to reduce your tasks down to smaller steps to take more natural breaks. For example "write book" could become "write chapter 1" or "write x no of words". Limiting time spent can be immensely frustrating but may be a necessary evil - you may be better setting up time blocks for such tasks.

Personally I do not now feel working through the pages slowly to be a problem, although I have certainly felt that to be an issue previously. However, what IS vital when you are not working through them all daily is to have some means of reviewing those lists in order to activate the common sense rule if necessary (ie if something needs doing now then do it now). My own method is to retain in view a MindMap of my urgent tasks which I can action if necessary outside of AF. In practice I now rarely need to do so - those tasks do generally get done within AF but the sense of panic is kept at bay.

The point about discretionery time is very important - you may wish to redefine your own usage of discretionery time - eg set times for writing and set times for AF. The use of small amounts of time on tasks does enable rapid progress through the lists and is a valid tool but generally this is best used as an emergency measure rather than as common practice.

It sounds as if your scheduling system is a great option for you at present - you will find the best way to keep those elements in mind that works for you and may well change that system at some point. AF may be simple but it also has a lot more about it than is evident so be prepared for it to take time to settle down. I've been using it since day 1 of beta and it is still surprising me! :-)

Andreas, you sound like you work how I tend to work while I'm at the office - in kind of an absorbed flow state for as long as possible. Most writers probably wish they could be more like you. At home I tend to hop around and do little bits of things more but I'd like to not do that so much. And I have definitely had days where I did nothing but process the last active page at work.

I don't use a calendar anymore except for meetings as I have my due dates on my AF list. But now that I've thought about what I'm doing more, I realize I generally drop what I'm doing and work on anything that's due in the next couple of days the minute I get the job if the new task will only take 15 minutes or so. I like to get things done early enough that I never actually have to hit a deadline. And generally, if it's something the top boss gives me to do, I respond immediately. Everyone else can wait. This may not be most efficient, but it generally leads to good raises. :-)

Right now, I'm in the same position you are in but in an accounting environment - year end plus everything else. Fortunately I only have 7 active pages at work, so I can go through them all pretty easily in an 8 hour day. So I move quickly through those earlier pages using little and often to get to the last couple of active pages. And I do this regularly, not just as an emergency measure as Christine does. I've read everything that Mark has said on this and this seems key to working the lists in the most efficient way. But then I've worked hard to ensure that I have a much shorter list (only 6 pages at home now) by dismissing and consciously not taking on too much. So I can get through those pages in an hour or two quite easily.

Do you have a wide enough time range of tasks on your list? What's the typical breakdown of "time to complete" of your tasks you have listed?

Jacqueline,

I have a wild mixture of 5-minute-tasks (look up something in the internet, make a restaurant reservation), large tasks (install bookshelf - will take an afternoon at least) and projects (novels, travels, research) which I either develop while working on it or I jot down ideas about how to do it, what to do etc. on a separate page. And I have only 1 AF list because, lucky me, my work and my home have become the same :-)

For me the problem came up especially with the revision of my new novel, which has to happen under a tight deadline (normally not, but in this case), which is now a kind of endurance testing...

Hi Andreas

With deadlined tasks the only solution is more than likely just to do it to get it out of the way. If it has to be done it has to be done. Some of my backlog items necessitate more time now than I would like to give them, but only because they did not get done earlier - oh for AF to have been available a few years ago ......... :-)

It does sound as though the time block vs AF time approach would work well in this scenario - you can switch to more AF time if you wish once that project is out of the way ..... of course you may think that using time blocks works so well that you carry on with them for your next book ........ :-)

Not sure if this helps. If I choose a "neverending" task, then I hit a timer and when it runs out, I have a marker or suggestion to move on. I don't switch over straight away, and I don't always set the timer for the same time, but it helps me keep moving on tasks that could take a long time up.

I have a similar task to you, writing my thesis. I have broken that into chapters as suggested above. This works well with a thesis, where different chapters can be at different stages. In fact, it helps that I can mix up working on different stuff, and still get closer to handing the next draft in.

I would use time blocking for a task like this. I work out how long I have till the deadline, how long the task will take, then how long I need to spend on it each day. I try and make realistic estimates, but tend to over-estimate a little, as a safety margin. Then each day, I know how much to do and when it is done I feel free to do other stuff., AF or otherwise.

IOW the time needed for this task has become non-discretionary. I suppose the risk is that you may start to experience resistance to the task but it doesn't sound like that is a problem for you right now.

Good luck with the book!