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FV and FVP Forum > Preselectus Interruptus

Here's a question. So you have preselect the dotted items you are going to work on and have used the best judgment you have to determine that you can finish them. However, you are interrupted midway through. What do you do? Keep the preselect sequence until you make it all the way back? Create a new preselect sequence? Punish yourself by crossing off the oldest item because you failed to complete it?
March 17, 2012 at 1:36 | Unregistered CommenterMark Lybrand
Interruptions to my work happen all the time, I just come back to the task I was working on before I was interrupted and then keep going. For example, if I'm tidying up my desk at 10:30 and at 10:45 I have an appointment, I'll come back to tidying my desk after the appointment. If I feel I've worked on it enough, I'll move to the next preselected thing, as per the instructions.

For me, the key here has been my preselection criteria: It's just based on "what I would do before I do x," that's all, full stop. For me, it has nothing to do with how long it's going to take or how much I can get done in a day, I'm not bringing that kind of judgement to preselection. I'm just thinking about what I need to do before I do x. In fact, I start where I left off the next day, too. This gives it a nice flow for me.

Hope this helps.
March 17, 2012 at 2:04 | Unregistered CommenterPaul MacNeil
Here's another trick I'm doing. I like to return phone calls promptly, so when they end on my list, I put a dot next to them already. An interesting way of prioritizing: Preselected preselection. I was nervous at first that this might overflow my preselected list or somehow interrupt the flow or make the whole thing collapse or make my head explode, but it hasn't so far. Such is the flexibility of this rather ingenious system.
March 17, 2012 at 2:11 | Unregistered CommenterPaul MacNeil
So, basically, consider the preselected list as locked in. Try not to bite off more than you can chew. Use your best judgment.

:)
March 17, 2012 at 3:03 | Unregistered CommenterMark Lybrand
Of course, depending on the interruption, this from the instructions may be guiding:

"If you find that your preselected list is no longer relevant (e.g. if you have had a long break away from the list), then scrap the preselection and reselect from the beginning."
March 17, 2012 at 4:29 | Unregistered CommenterMark Lybrand
Although the rules allow for scrapping the complete preselection, I've never actually had to do that myself. I've found a combination of reselecting from where I've got to in the preselect list and putting urgent tasks in with a dot works fine.
March 17, 2012 at 9:16 | Registered CommenterMark Forster
Remember that your preselected list is NOT closed: you can add to the BEGINNING of the list at any time. If you follow the letter of the rule, you:

1. add the interruption at the bottom of your task list, with a dot making it the beginning of your selection
2. close your current task, reentering it as unfinished at the end of your list, without a dot
3. keep working through your selection

When you have finished the interruption, you would normally carry on to the task after the interrupted one. This is not a punishment: just the way the system flows. If you still want to resume the interrupted task before carrying on up the selections, there is nothing stopping you from dotting it and continuing.

This applies to unplanned interruptions. When you just run out of discretionary time, I'd guess you simply continue when you get back to your list, unless the break is too great.

Mark (F), have I missed something?
March 17, 2012 at 12:04 | Registered CommenterWill
My take: Keep the list. Ignore anything that's no longer sensible. Add the interruption and any newly urgent items.
March 17, 2012 at 14:16 | Registered CommenterAlan Baljeu