How to Do The Same Old Thing
Tuesday, December 27, 2016 at 0:25 I’ve been working on a simple system to keep myself doing the same old thing(s), and new ones, as mentioned in my previous artice. What I’ve some up with is very simple indeed - almost as simple as you can get - but so far very effective. It’s worked well over the Christmas period when normal routines always get disrupted, with the additional factor that the radio- and chemotherapy has depressed my energy levels.
Basically it’s just a catch-all list which you circulate around from beginning to end over and over again, doing tasks as you feel they are ready to be done. Tasks are entered and re-entered as necessary at the end of the list.
The trouble with a simple scan of the entire list is that it’s only too possible just to skip over the difficult tasks and do only the easy trivial stuff.
To prevent this there is one additional rule:
You can’t pass over more than nine active tasks.
Or to put it another way, if you’ve passed over nine active task you have to do the tenth. However you do get a chance to re-assess the tasks you’ve passed over.
You achieve this as follows:
- When you start scanning, count “one, two, three… ” as you come to each active task.
- If you reach “ten” without having selected a task for action, then reverse direction and count back again “one, two, three…” (Make sure Task 10 counts as “one”, or you’ll go back one task too far).
- If you reach “ten” on the reverse scan without having selected a task for action, reverse direction again and as before count each active task as you come to it. But this time if you don’t select a task for action you have to delete it. You continue to delete tasks until you have either taken action on a task or reached “ten” again.
- Then start scanning again as in 1.
When you reach the end of the list go directly to the beginning of the list without interrupting your count. Don’t add any new tasks while you’re doing this or you’ll confuse the count if you have to do a reverse count.
Reader Comments (15)
Would you re-create the list every day on no-list principles, Mark?
Hope everybody here had a good Christmas - I certainly did!
<< Gosh, looks a bit complicated. >>
Have you tried it? It's not actually at all complicated. If it sounds complicated it's only due to my limited powers of description.
<< I think I would prefer using a randomizer to work my way around a list of commitments. >>
It's not at all like a randomizer. You have control over what tasks are selected for action. With a randomizer you have none.
<< Would you re-create the list every day on no-list principles, Mark? >>
It was designed, as I said, to "do the same old thing" so no, I wouldn't.
No, I haven't tried it yet. Apologies for a rather unconstructive comment.
New Year's resolution: delay before posting!
I can almost hear the Daleks spinning up to say "exterminate! exterminate!" as I prepare for the third time through a block of 10 tasks!
Somebody looking for a simpler description of this one:
1. Scan through the next 10 tasks until you find one you will do now.
a. Stop scanning as soon as you find one.
b. If you didn't find one, go back and forth over these 10 until you find one.
c. If scanning takes you past the end of the list, wrap around counting to include the first.
2. Do that task. Cross it out. Rewrite at end if you intend to repeat later.
3. Go to 1, continuing from the task you finished.
Reminds me of that old post, http://markforster.squarespace.com/blog/2008/11/17/the-simplest-time-management-method.html , which method morphed into Autofocus. Just this '10' is new.
<< So with this, Fast FVP is laid aside? Seemed so promising.>>
I'm using Fast FVP myself at the moment. So no, it hasn't been laid aside.
<< b. If you didn't find one, go back and forth over these 10 until you find one. >>
You left out the part about deleting tasks in my para. 3.
<< which method morphed into Autofocus. Just this '10' is new. >>
Actually that method is much more like DIT than Autofocus, though later on AF4 was similar. It's not much like this present method.
<< I didn't see it like that. I was dotting as usual just making sure there wasn't a 10 task gap. >>
The method I describe in this blog post is not based on FVP so there's no pre-selection of tasks. You do each selected task immediately.
<< There might be something urgent after the 10th task, so why stop and do 10. >>
The point of the 10 is to put pressure on you to do the more difficult tasks, which you might not otherwise get around to.
If you get an urgent task which can't wait until you reach it in the normal course of scanning the list, then do it immediately.
However if you find that the way you are doing it at the moment works well for you, stick with it.
Good way to clear out my digital catch all list.
My paper list is in a three column format (old Modori calendar). I feel the pull to finish the stragglers in each column with FVP fast.
I'm glad to hear it's working for you. I've been off on other tacks recently but I intend to go back to this for a while.