Get Everything Done

Hi,

I am testing a new random system that I thought others might be interested in. I have been doing this electronically in Workflowy. Workflowy allows you to "mirror" tasks so they show up in multiple places, which you will see is especially useful for this system. You can also do this system on paper or electronically with software that does not have a mirror function, though you will need to copy items on different pages.

Here's how it works:

Every task goes on one long list, separated into "pages." I do 25 items per page, and call this section "Rando"

I have the following extra sections:

Quarterly tasks
Weekly tasks
Today tasks
Work in progress
Recurring tasks

Every day, mirror the above sections to your rando list, so that if you land on one and click it, it will oepen that section. As you add new tasks to Rando, if they fit one of the above sections, mirror them there.

Then follow MF's random rules with slides. When you land on a task, do the task. If you only do some, write it at the page at the end of the list and mirror it to your work in progress section. As I mentioned above, if you land on a mirrored section, click on to that section, and do some work there. I use Simple Scanning on those sections, but any method would do. When you are done with that page for now, go back to Rando, cross that section off and keep on randomizing. (remember every day you add all the sections again on your list).

This set up captures a little of Seraphim AF4REV, with the different lists, but because it is random, there is a little uncertainty involved as to when you will go to those lists. Yet, because every item is also on your Rando list as well as a section list, the chances of hitting an item on those lists is higher than new items that are not a priority. (If an item is a priority, you likely mirrored them to your today, this week or quarterly list). Since you re-add the sections every day, if you don't get a section one day, the odds of hitting it the next day is greater, both because there are more crossed out items and the section name has been entered multiple times.

I have been doing this for about two weeks and am really happy with the results. Things I dread get done bit by bit, things that I need to monitor regularly get monitored and anything with a deadline has been getting the right amount of attention. Plus my world is more exciting when there is randomness involved.

If you want to use Workflowy, it is free with a 250 limit on items per month (and if you delete an item it does not count towards your 250). If you use my referral code you get an additional 250 items a month, here is the code: https://workflowy.com/invite/1db17411.lnx

You will note that workflowy does not automatically number your items. A user came out with a tampermonkey script that does allow for numbered lists. (If you don'/t know what any of that is, neither do I but I pasted it per the instructions and it works perfectly. You can find that here: https://github.com/BettyJJ/WorkFlowy-scripts/blob/main/Ordered-Lists-for-WorkFlowy.js

Let me know if you have any questions (or are daring enough to try it out). :)

Thanks for sharing this. I'm using Dynalist and I suspect "mirroring" is simply hyperlinking to another list. That's a good idea. I had simply been writing "review List X" on my main random list but an actual link is a fun idea.

I'm curious to know why you split up your Rando list into "pages" of 1-25 items each . Do you have rules around which page you work on? Are you rolling 1-25 each time?

Brent

Hi Brent,

Mirroring is like linking but it updates in real time everywhere. So, if you mirror a task to a different list and check it off (or add further details by wither rewriting or adding sub-bullets) it will check off everywhere you mirrored it. You can also "detach" a mirror so checking it off in one place does not affect it anywhere else.

Other software might do this besides Workflowy, but I have not seen it. I used Dynalist in the past and it did not have this.

25 pages is an arbitrary number (my paper notebook had 23 lines, and I rounded it up). By having pages of the same size, and setting the randomizer at 25, you will always hit at least one item per page.

Alll that being said, I should note that I felt burned out by Randorama last week and today I am doing a short FVP list on paper. :)