Get Everything Done

Hi there

Have been using AF for a few days now and am finding it useful and enjoyable.

One question I have relates to the flow of my day - I'm not always working from the list as sometimes one task leads to another and there is a natural flow of events. Now some of this accomplished work is actually on the list, typically on later pages, as it is 'fresh' work in progress. The situation is such that a phone call leads to an email leads to another task etc.

When I take stock and go back to my list, I tend to then cross out those tasks that were subsequently done by me while 'away' from the list. Then I might start working from the list again and being more methodical.

Am I short-circuiting the system by working like this? Should I only ever be actually working the list?

I hope this makes sense.

that'a a qood question Richard. The problem is hat a lot of stuff is incoming each day and for each we have to take decision. The solution for not beeing overwelmed(Lost ?) is to centralise actif task in AF and have all notes at the first part of my spiral note book.
But for the daily task a work on a dated sheet were the items have been extracted from AF and Omnifocus 'future and non active items) Then at night i cross done task in AF andd OF.
The danger of my method is to forget things the effeciency is having a short list to focus on the rush and a general list to work on my discretional stuff. This what you may do. Does it answer to you question ?

Richard,

The point of AF is to help you get things done. If you are getting things done, no matter what you do, buy yourself a tall cold one ;-)

I think this happens to most of us. I'd feel that I'd have to seek professional help if I stopped DOING in order to consult my list of things to DO! I don't even ususally go back and cross things off ... unless they are on the page I'm working on The next time I see them, in the normal course of working the list, I cross them off. It gives me a bit of a thrill to start on a page looking for something that wants to be done and finding things already done. It really feels like a freebee ;-)

I disagree with the above (Mike) in general. Getting something done is never a problem; we are always getting something done. That something might be staring at ceilings, nevertheless it is something. (If you don't have staring at ceilings in your AF, you might want to add it.)

Specifically, things emerge which want to get done immediately and sometimes it makes sense to attend to them. Knowing when and how to do this is a matter of practice and AF is a good tool to develop this kinda on the spot intuition.

Seemingly urgent tasks receive my attention more often than I think is appropriate. AF and other practices have been helpful in determining how I want to help things get done.

My advice: use AF mechanically for a while, unless something is of the most urgent and important nature. Otherwise, it is simply a todo list. Going through those pages has been very helpful for me, even when the next step seems "obvious".

Sometimes it *is* clear where I want to put my energy for the next few tasks. I write them down on a card or post-it and do them. I then go back to my list and cross them off the pages and go back to AF 101.

You have been doing this for a few days; do yourself a favor and follow the rules and don't read anything on this board for a few months.

FWIW.

Ah, I've been wondering about this myself. I'd like to echo Mike's comments as "freebees" are always nice surprises. The question is... does a freebee act as a "one task completed" and hence, you can skip to the next page. Mike?

When I'm starting a task that I suspect might naturally lead me to other tasks, or might just absorb my attention for a long time, sometimes that's perfectly OK, and I just follow wherever the task leads me.

But sometimes I know ahead of time that it's not appropriate, at least right now. Maybe I know I have several projects I must push forward right now, and if I spend 6 hours on only one of them, it's going to be a problem.

In these latter cases, I'll use the timer method: set the timer for an appropriate amount of time -- 5 minutes, 24 minutes, 60 minutes, whatever -- and just keep going till the timer goes off, or until my natural anxiety about the other remaining projects brings me back to my AF list.

Hi Norman,

>>> I disagree with the above (Mike) in general.>>>

Ah, sometimes like that that. ;-)

<<< Getting something done is never a problem; we are always getting something done. <<<

Me thinks thou is about to joust with a man of straw.

>>> That something might be staring at ceilings, nevertheless it is something.

And you do not disappoint. I'm sure that you actually believe that my position is that all possible actions are equal. Surely you really think that my answer was not to the question posed, but simply an idle musing.

>>> (If you don't have staring at ceilings in your AF, you might want to add it.) <<<

Or not.

>>> Specifically, things emerge which want to get done immediately and sometimes it makes sense to attend to them. Knowing when and how to do this is a matter of practice and AF is a good tool to develop this kinda on the spot intuition. <<<

That could be. I find, however, that some of those decisions are dead obvious and don't take much "intuition". I have on my list right at this moment:

- Clean bike
- Inflate tires
- Clean air compressor

Those are not listed sequentially. Some are not even on the same page. If I happen to run across: "Clean air compressor", once I have done that and fired it up to assure that it is working, I'm going to REMEMBER that the reason I needed to use it was to "Inflate the tires" on my bike. I'm not going to stop and do what else is on the page, I'm going to grab the bike and inflate the tires. This is NOT rocket science! Likewise, even though I don't have "Inflate CAR tiers" anywhere on my list, I'm going to most likely think to do that so long as I have the air compressor running. AND, I'm also going to think to grab a rag and clean the dust and grime from the bike ... though that might be on another page. I might even decide to lube the gears and chain as well. It all depends on how much time is consumed at that point. Maybe there will be some pressing deadline or other that will cause me to stop that chain of actions. If so, I'll abandon efficiency and attend to something urgent.

Now you can call that a well developed intuition if you like. I call it common sense.

>>> Seemingly urgent tasks receive my attention more often than I think is appropriate. AF and other practices have been helpful in determining how I want to help things get done. <<<

Well, that's a good thing then. For you.

>>> My advice: use AF mechanically for a while, unless something is of the most urgent and important nature. Otherwise, it is simply a todo list. <<<

AH, so your advice to the questioner is to stop after each task is done and go back to the list and NEVER do something else that is right there in front of him just begging to be done. A great improvement in productivity THAT would be. Finished vacuuming the hallway? Of course, don't vacuum another room that you remember needs it. No, put the vacuum away and go back to the list to find a task about answering mail that can be done next. Then flip the page and find that task to vacuum that room you noticed when you had the vacuum already out. Great system that is. I can hardly wait to try it!

Great gains in productivity can be made by grouping like tasks. If I sit down to do paperwork, I don't work sequentially through my list as the rules dictate like some kind of brain dead zombie. I'll cruise through the list looking for other paperwork items while I'm already at my desk or, as the original question posed, I'll "see" something else that needs to be done and just do it. I makes absolutely no sense to pack it all in and run to the store for a single item, then go back to paperwork. That's just nuts. And more over, I don't even see the directive to do that in the AF "rules".

>>> Going through those pages has been very helpful for me, even when the next step seems "obvious". <<<

I guess we are all different. What can I say?

>>> Sometimes it *is* clear where I want to put my energy for the next few tasks. I write them down on a card or post-it and do them. I then go back to my list and cross them off the pages and go back to AF 101. <<<

OH, really? So you actually agree with what I said? So what was the point of this exercise?

>>> You have been doing this for a few days; do yourself a favor and follow the rules and don't read anything on this board for a few months. <<<

That would include your post, then?

>>> FWIW. <<<

Hmmmmm.

Hi Avrum,

>>> Ah, I've been wondering about this myself. I'd like to echo Mike's comments as "freebees" are always nice surprises. The question is... does a freebee act as a "one task completed" and hence, you can skip to the next page. Mike? <<<

Logically, it would. I think of this as simply "time shifting". What would happen if I had the list in my hand all the time? I'd cross the task off immediately and then I could move on to the next page if I wished. All I've done here is do the task before I got to the page.

Mike-

I think your example of the compressor and the bike makes Normans point precisely. While it does make perfect sense to put air in all the tires (bike and cars), those items are related to the compressor which is the task that "stood out" when you were working the list. For all we know, that is why "clean air compressor" made it to the list in the first place.

But cleaning the bike is unrelated. If for some reason it was, then it probably would have been on the same page and you would have noticed it and effectively been working off the list even though you didn't cross off cleaning the air compressor and inflating tires yet.

But this isn't the situation that Richard and Norman were really talking about. The tasks that got done while "in the flow" were not done while even thinking about the AF list.

If cleaning the bike was on some earlier page or later page, you were loosing out on some of the benefits of AF especially if you didn't remember it was on the list. In reality, you may have just been putting off something important that would have been the next item that "stood out" to be done. And if you really wanted to clean the bike but also wanted to work on your AF list, it would have served as a driver to get other things done so you could get to it.

From reading your posts, it seems like you may need AF less than the rest of us. Like many have said, different things work for different people. If you are so in tune with what you need to get done, great.

Many of the rest of us apparently need help to get the right things done efficiently. I certainly do. AF is a tool that has helped me increase my productivity considerably.

Now if I would only stop procrastinating enough to open my list at home like I do at work, it would be even better. I would venture a guess that your advice on this would be to "just do it". You would be right on this!

Hi Marty,

>>> I think your example of the compressor and the bike makes Normans point precisely. <<<

I've long forgotten what the point was! ;-)

>>> While it does make perfect sense to put air in all the tires (bike and cars), those items are related to the compressor which is the task that "stood out" when you were working the list. For all we know, that is why "clean air compressor" made it to the list in the first place. <<<

The "clean compressor" task made it to the list because I wanted to use it this summer for a number of projects, not just inflating the bike tiers, but some power washing and paint spraying.

Inflating the tires on the car was not even on the list ... AT ALL. Once I had the bike inflated, I thought around for what else I could do with the compressor before I put it away and car tires came to mind. I don't keep them inflated properly as often as I should.

>>> But cleaning the bike is unrelated. If for some reason it was, then it probably would have been on the same page and you would have noticed it and effectively been working off the list even though you didn't cross off cleaning the air compressor and inflating tires yet. <<<

It may seem unrelated to you, but it definately IS related in my mind. Remember that the point of it all was to get the bikes ready for a ride and so I made a list of things that had to be done and they included:

- Clean Bikes
- Inflate tires
- Lube chains
- Put new battery in computer
- Mount headlight
- Mount GPS unit
- Read book on bike repair
- Buy new inner tubes
- Buy tire repair kit
- Buy basic bike repair tools
- etc.

I could have been prompted to clean the compressor either by seeing it on the list or by starting to clean the bike and noticing that the tires are flat. Then I would go use the compressor and find that before I could use it I really needed to clean and check IT out. Sometimes tasks just cascade like that ... which was the original point. Do you run back to the list every time or just keep on a roll working on what pops up until you run out of things to do?

>>> But this isn't the situation that Richard and Norman were really talking about. The tasks that got done while "in the flow" were not done while even thinking about the AF list. <<<

It was what Richard was taking about but who knows what Norman was on about. I had a hard time following it.

>>> If cleaning the bike was on some earlier page or later page, you were loosing out on some of the benefits of AF especially if you didn't remember it was on the list. <<<

Say what?

>>> In reality, you may have just been putting off something important that would have been the next item that "stood out" to be done. And if you really wanted to clean the bike but also wanted to work on your AF list, it would have served as a driver to get other things done so you could get to it. <<<

I'm sorry, I just can't relate to that. I don't live for my TO DO list. I use my TO DO list to get things done. It is the completion of projects that is important to me, not how I use a list. I'm fine with inflating the tires triggered by ANYTHING. I don't care if it gets done because I saw it on the list, I cleaned the compressor and thought about what I could do with it, or because I was lubing the chain. It makes no difference to me. The idea is to get the things done.

>>> From reading your posts, it seems like you may need AF less than the rest of us. Like many have said, different things work for different people. If you are so in tune with what you need to get done, great. <<<

Actually, AF helps me a great deal. But I don't use it entirely as instructed. I do have a lot of project lists. An item on my AF list will be something like: "Get Bikes Ready" and then I'll go to my bike project list to see what needs to be done.

>>> Many of the rest of us apparently need help to get the right things done efficiently. I certainly do. AF is a tool that has helped me increase my productivity considerably. <<<

Me too. But in my case, it is just one tool and I use it in the way it works best for me at any given moment.

>>> Now if I would only stop procrastinating enough to open my list at home like I do at work, it would be even better. I would venture a guess that your advice on this would be to "just do it". You would be right on this! <<<

It might be. Or it might be to pop a tall cold one and kick back for a while ... it just depends on what kind of day you've had ;-)

Mike-

It all depends what your goal was. You never mentioned that you had a project, task, or idea to get bikes ready.

What you said was that you ran across clean air compressor on your list. I took that to mean that you were working your list, not that you were getting bikes ready.

As I said, if the tasks were really related, whether your list was complete or not, then you really were working off your list (minus the crossing off one item at a time). In this case they were; we just didn't have the whole story. So using one task on your list to work a project seems like a good use of time and an effective way to use the list.

But if you really were trying to work your list and each of these was separate, unrelated tasks, then doing the unrelated ones would not really be following the guidelines. I believe that by not following Marks instructions, you loose some advantages. I also acknowledge that going with the flow also can have benefits.

It all depends on how you are approaching your day and your list and how hard you are trying to press through it. If you were trying to get stuff done and work your way to an important task, then the extra's you added that were not related to the compressor could have been procrastination.

You noted that something "urgent" could have caused you to stop and attend the urgent task. My point was that by continuing what appeared to be unrelated tasks, you could be missing out on something "important" on your list.

Mike wrote: "Do you run back to the list every time or just keep on a roll working on what pops up until you run out of things to do?"

I often set a time limit when I'm "on a roll", to make sure I'm not neglecting other important things. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in following a train of thought or activity, that I totally forget what else I am supposed to be doing. The time limit makes me at least go check what else is on my list, since I so easily forget.

But this is due to the way I work, and the way I think.

One big reason I find Autofocus so especially helpful, where other approaches failed, is that I have way too many ideas, way too many things I'd like to do, and I can easily focus on one of them for hours at a time, neglecting everything else.

The problem is that I am not really sure which of these are really the most important, which path would be the most fruitful.

On one hand, I may be procrastinating / neglecting my "real work", so I need to limit the time spent on these other projects.

But on the other hand, sometimes these "side projects" turn out to be the real "killer apps" that move my work (and my career) forward, and make a significant difference in my personal/family life. It's where I created something that increases team efficiency 90% in an important area; or found a solution to a chronic problem; or made connections with people that turn out to be very fortuitous and mutually beneficial; or started looking into moving our home to a new city; and so on.

These things are sometimes very hard to plan -- often it's the spontaneity of it, where "opportunity meets preparation", and something really new and different and powerful happens.

So, over the years, I've learned to allow myself the freedom to go down some of these side trails and explore for awhile, since they often turn out to be so valuable—but at the same time, not to lose track of the other things on my plate.

AutoFocus is perfect for this kind of situation. Everything goes on the list, and I do whatever stands out.

But it *DOES* require using some kind of timer method. In my case, I need to set a MAXIMUM time allowed to work on these excursions. Maybe 15 minutes to read an article or explore a website, or an hour or two to research a topic of interest. Rarely, maybe an entire day (or two) to go dig into something a little deeper. (This is totally opposite from the other times I need to use a timer -- to set a MINIMUM time to make myself at least do SOMETHING on some nasty task I am resisting.)

Before Autofocus, these excursions could be extremely disruptive to my overflow work flow -- even though they were often very valuable and useful. With Autofocus, I've now got a method that helps keep it all hanging together and moving in some kind of order and flow, in addition to the excellent mechanisms for filtering and prioritizing.

Very good post, Seraphim.

But one obstacle to your method is that I often do not realize that a "side project" is going to be a big time consumer.

Are you so disciplined that if you are working "off list" that you always set a timer to limit your time away from the list? If you are, I can find no fault with your strategy. However, I find it hard to imagine anyone being that disciplined. I certainly am not.

Mind you, nor am I disciplined enough to stay with my AF list for all of my discretionary time. I doubt if I would spend any more than half of my discretionary time on my list. However, if I feel I am "free-wheeling" too much , it is an anchor to which I can return when I feel that my affairs are getting out of kilter.

Mike, my only problem with working off list is that when I did this a few months ago too much, I started reno projects that I felt inspired to do that weren't on my list (because I had the hammer and chisel out). :-) That led to me having messes in rooms that I hadn't wanted to start working on yet - and to me complaining that I wasn't getting the ones done fast enough that I had chosen to work on that were on the list.

Re. Norman's comment:
"You have been doing this for a few days; do yourself a favor and follow the rules and don't read anything on this board for a few months."

Believe it or not :-) - I didn't read the forum at all in the first 6 or so weeks after the instructions came out. It made it a lot harder than it had to be, because some very simple solutions were on here for issues that I had that I didn't get from reading the instructions. Knowing that other people had some of the same problems and I wasn't just a lazy so and so was a relief. And reading and posting has kept me on track all this time - especially through the hard times when I felt like giving up.

How many times do we read a book and fail to implement what can be very sound advice? Because there's no ongoing reminder to re-commit outside of yourself. And at the beginning, you need to re-commit - day after day - even when it's hard - especially when it's hard. Some people are changing habits they've had for years. I've learned that forums can give you that opportunity to re-commit.

We're not alone, we all have things we want to work on and a system to do that with, we all want to see other people succeed on here. Where else will you get that kind of reinforcement?

Hi Marty,

>>> It all depends what your goal was. You never mentioned that you had a project, task, or idea to get bikes ready. <<<

Sorry, I'm starting to get a bit lost here. Part of the confusion is that since AF will eat whatever you throw its way, I'm likely to have a mixture of projects and tasks on the main AF list. IOW, I might have a "compressor" item on the list but "lube chain" on a separate "bike" list. In any case, no matter what "triggers" an activity, I might just do whatever is nearby or associated with it without returning to the AF list.

>>> What you said was that you ran across clean air compressor on your list. I took that to mean that you were working your list, not that you were getting bikes ready. <<<

I was probably unclear ... sorry.

>>> As I said, if the tasks were really related, whether your list was complete or not, then you really were working off your list (minus the crossing off one item at a time). In this case they were; we just didn't have the whole story. So using one task on your list to work a project seems like a good use of time and an effective way to use the list. <<<

But I think I also pointed out that "Inflate Car Tires" was not on the list but just something that presented itself once I had cleaned the compressor and thought about what I might use it for before I packed it up.

>>> But if you really were trying to work your list and each of these was separate, unrelated tasks, then doing the unrelated ones would not really be following the guidelines. I believe that by not following Marks instructions, you loose some advantages. I also acknowledge that going with the flow also can have benefits. <<<

I guess that I have an underlying strategy behind the way I work and I can't put it into a "system" because it varies as my life does. ;-) I'll use the AF list to get me started on something and then work on it until I feel a need to go back to the list and see what's next. I may have done a dozen things and only four of them were on the list. I will not go looking for those four .. I'll just mark them off the next time I see them.

>>> It all depends on how you are approaching your day and your list and how hard you are trying to press through it. If you were trying to get stuff done and work your way to an important task, then the extra's you added that were not related to the compressor could have been procrastination. <<<

I define "procrastination" more by the way I FEEL about tasks than anything else. If I have just fixed the compressor and think: "Hey, it will only take me five mintues to top off the car tiers". that does not FEEL like procrastination. If I were really procrastinating, I'd FEEL it before I even went to clean the compressor. What I'd be procrastinating is writing the next email to the County Consumer Advocate's Office to get overcharges by the cable company reversed ... yet again. (Brrrrr, who needs that waste of time?)

>>> You noted that something "urgent" could have caused you to stop and attend the urgent task. My point was that by continuing what appeared to be unrelated tasks, you could be missing out on something "important" on your list. <<<

Yes, but the thing is that AF does not present things to you on the basis of importance ... unless you have tweaked it to do so. My "importance" and "urgency" tweak is to scan the list in the morning and pull out those items for work today. Which kind of begs the question of am I missing an important item on the ancillary list. No, because that list is so small that I know what is on it and what my alternatives are just by remembering it.

Hey Seraphim,

>>> Mike wrote: "Do you run back to the list every time or just keep on a roll working on what pops up until you run out of things to do?"

I often set a time limit when I'm "on a roll", to make sure I'm not neglecting other important things. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in following a train of thought or activity, that I totally forget what else I am supposed to be doing. The time limit makes me at least go check what else is on my list, since I so easily forget. <<<

As I mentioned to Marty, I don't tend to forget those things and if I do, I won't find it on the AF list because the ordering of items on the list is arbitrary. In any case, with my ADDish symptoms, I'm so happy to be in my hyperfocus state, rather than my distracted state, that I tend to stick with it as long as possible. ;-)

>>> But this is due to the way I work, and the way I think. <<<

Ain't it true for all of us? ;-)

>>> One big reason I find Autofocus so especially helpful, where other approaches failed, is that I have way too many ideas, way too many things I'd like to do, and I can easily focus on one of them for hours at a time, neglecting everything else. <<<

Alas, I think that gets us back to planning. I think AF feeds the problem in that case. I'm always off chasing the next shiny bit of this or that. While I love AF, I also know that I need to plan and put limits on myself as well.

>>> The problem is that I am not really sure which of these are really the most important, which path would be the most fruitful. <<<

That's a tough, but good, problem ;-)

>>> So, over the years, I've learned to allow myself the freedom to go down some of these side trails and explore for awhile, since they often turn out to be so valuable—but at the same time, not to lose track of the other things on my plate. <<<

Makes sense.

Jacqueline,

>>> Mike, my only problem with working off list is that when I did this a few months ago too much, I started reno projects that I felt inspired to do that weren't on my list (because I had the hammer and chisel out). :-) That led to me having messes in rooms that I hadn't wanted to start working on yet - and to me complaining that I wasn't getting the ones done fast enough that I had chosen to work on that were on the list. <<<

Yes, that happens. I've learned to stop a moment and do a quick reality check. In my major house reorganization binges, I've likewise made problems for myself because it is most efficient to keep moving, flowing, from one thing to the next and that winds up making more of a mess.

>>> Believe it or not :-) - I didn't read the forum at all in the first 6 or so weeks after the instructions came out. It made it a lot harder than it had to be, because some very simple solutions were on here for issues that I had that I didn't get from reading the instructions. Knowing that other people had some of the same problems and I wasn't just a lazy so and so was a relief. And reading and posting has kept me on track all this time - especially through the hard times when I felt like giving up. <<<

That is the great value in sharing ideas. I learn so much from discussions with others.

@Jim - You wrote >>>Are you so disciplined that if you are working "off list" that you always set a timer to limit your time away from the list?<<<

No, I don't always use a timer. But I do start to feel a bit nervous if I've spent a long time on a task of questionable importance, and just naturally gravitate back to the list.

>>>If you are, I can find no fault with your strategy. However, I find it hard to imagine anyone being that disciplined. I certainly am not.<<<

No, I am not always that disciplined. Sometimes I just want to spend more time. And by AF rules, that's totally fine. And sometimes spending more time like that yields great results. Other times it turns into mental dissipation. So I do try to use the timer.

>>>However, if I feel I am "free-wheeling" too much , it is an anchor to which I can return when I feel that my affairs are getting out of kilter.<<<

Yes, I often have the same experience. It's especially nice to get back to the methodical sanity of my AF list, not only after a bit too much of free-wheeling, but also after a day full of meetings and interruptions, or any other disruption. It's so nice to have an anchor that really works as an anchor! Reliably!

@Mike - >>>AF does not present things to you on the basis of importance ... unless you have tweaked it to do so.<<<

That hasn't been my experience at all. The whole "standing out" and dismissal process works "automatically" to get me to work on the most important tasks, and dismiss the rest. After a few cycles through the pages, the unimportant tasks just lose all their appeal, and I sometimes wonder how those tasks even got on the list at all.

Is there anyone else out there who is just following the basic AF rules without any tweaks and finding it to be wonderful? I'm more and more surprised to find that the most prolific posters on the forum are using various tweaks and variations. I see how those are useful for particular situations, and I've tried some myself. But I haven't found anything to be better than the basic standing out and dismissal methodology.

Mike wrote:
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>>> One big reason I find Autofocus so especially helpful, where other approaches failed, is that I have way too many ideas, way too many things I'd like to do, and I can easily focus on one of them for hours at a time, neglecting everything else. <<<

Alas, I think that gets us back to planning. I think AF feeds the problem in that case. I'm always off chasing the next shiny bit of this or that. While I love AF, I also know that I need to plan and put limits on myself as well.
************************************

My problem has always been not having an effective way to plan this kind of stuff. There are just too many variables, too many ways to evaluate the importance of different ideas, too many apples vs oranges, and not enough time in the day for everything.

Rather than compounding the problem, "chasing the next shiny bit", I've found that Autofocus has SOLVED the problem. Cycling through the pages, following the standing-out process, some things have just naturally fallen to the wayside. Other things get moved ahead, bit by bit. Occasionally reviewing the results, and reflecting on it, has proven worthwhile and given me insights into what is really important to me. (And I should really do more of that!)

This has been revolutionary for me. Top-down planning has never managed to produce any real results here. I would always end up trying to focus on the things that "should" be more important, and make my plans accordingly. But I wasn't really able to follow any of those plans -- the other interests and desires would always interfere, and demand attention, demand to be worked into the plan. And it would just be overwhelming and frustrating.

Not any more!

....and some prolific posters aren't using AF at all! *blush*
learning as I go aka High Priestess of Dross

Seraphim, I do have a couple tweaks, but I resonate with your thinking on and approach to AF. I need to use a timer to keep myself on track. Like I should be on a timer now. ;-)

Seraphim, when it comes to high priority things like exercise, I really do have to schedule them - and with my life structure, it has to be first thing in the morning or it will not get done. I tried working them into AF and it didn't pan out. It's ok for the "go for a bike ride" kind of thing, but not for pushing large pieces of metal around. Otherwise, the filtering has taken place because I've recognized that not to do so means I can start 100 things and finish none or work on 5 and finish all of them.

And, for the record, I use 100% AF every weekend and am very happy with it. I've only deviated from it one weekend, but fortunately recognized the error of my ways halfway through.

Sorry if my earlier post came across as an "AF Police" investigation -- I didn't mean it that way at all!

Jacqueline -- Mark's instructions say to put regular daily things like exercise into your routine, and not into Autofocus, so I don't think making your exercise the first thing in the morning goes against AF at all. "Brush teeth" is certainly not on my AF list, either. :-)

Hi Seraphim,

<<< @Mike - >>>AF does not present things to you on the basis of importance ... unless you have tweaked it to do so.

That hasn't been my experience at all. The whole "standing out" and dismissal process works "automatically" to get me to work on the most important tasks, and dismiss the rest. After a few cycles through the pages, the unimportant tasks just lose all their appeal, and I sometimes wonder how those tasks even got on the list at all. <<<

That is a bit different than what I was thinking of. Example:

Page 4: Task A
Page 7: Task B

When you hit page 4 and see task A, you have no idea that you will eventually get to task B which MIGHT be more important. So unless tasks are all on the same page (closed list) AF does not sort on importance. I suppose you can say that it sorts on importance for items on a single page. Or you can say that in the LONG RUN, it sorts on unimportance by dismissing tasks.

>>> Is there anyone else out there who is just following the basic AF rules without any tweaks and finding it to be wonderful? I'm more and more surprised to find that the most prolific posters on the forum are using various tweaks and variations. I see how those are useful for particular situations, and I've tried some myself. But I haven't found anything to be better than the basic standing out and dismissal methodology. <<<

Yes, I understand. I'm a closest tweaker ;-) However I do find that if I stray too far, I am pulled back to simplify. Recently I've not been dismissing as much as I should. I've started to focus on that now. I am getting better results. I do keep separate lists for projects and then put "Work on Bike Project" on the AF list to point me to the distinct items. This keeps my list from getting too large. I don't know if that is really a "tweak" however.