Get Everything Done

This probably won't happen much once FV is in use for a while, but I was just wondering whether it makes sense to go through the whole preselection process if the benchmark is low-resistance enough. In other words, if the current benchmark seems easy and quick to do, and you're ready to do it, why not stop scanning and just do it, rather than asking the "What would I rather do?" question and scanning down the list again?

I guess the answer to the question "what do I want to do before..." in this case is "nothing", so you just do it and move on to the next item. Seems to fit the system perfectly.

I think you are correct, Marc. After re-reading the instructions, I noticed that Mark didn't explicitly write that one had to scan down the whole list – 'nothing' is always a valid answer. Thanks.

I had that happen a couple of times. I still felt it was useful to scan the remainder of the list quickly.
Mark mentioned in the instructions the concept of psychological readiness. Sometimes, reading an item over an over can soften my resistance to it. Eventually I feel, "just do that &#! thing already so you can stop looking at it!"

Mark did mention "If you don't go to the end of the list then you are in danger of missing out the more urgent tasks which tend to be found there."
Ref http://www.markforster.net/fv-forum/post/1755774#post1755860

There's probably some value in scanning the rest of the list anyway, because it will focus you on the most absurdly trivial things in the list. With a weightier benchmark, you might be more likely to skip over them.

Perhaps the more urgent tasks entered at the end of the list need to be flagged differently, so that they stand out on a quick initial scan, or is the initial scan 'not permitted' and one just starts at that first unactioned task always?

The instructions say "the chain starts with the first unactioned task". Anyone doing a quick scan before they start the first, or any, chain?

I would hesitate to use a big asterisk to highlight an urgent task as it is entered at the end of the list, maybe a circle inside which the dot can be placed when it is selected.

However, all of need to remember one of Mark's caveats from AF1 days and since: if it's really urgent when it arrives, and is deemed critical, just do it.

I happily add additional items to the pre-select list. It means I increase procrastination, but it makes it very clear what's standing out, what's being avoided, what I'd rather be doing etc. I think that increased awareness is valuable in itself. In other words, it shows me what "psychological readiness" means for me.