Get Everything Done

I've been going strong with a new variant of AF4R, as I described here:
http://markforster.squarespace.com/forum/post/2787870#post2795150

I've started calling it AF4RS -- "AF4, Revised, Seraphim's version" :)

It is great at regulating my total load of commitments and work-in-progress (WIP). This is one of my favorite features.

The Unfinished Tasks pages make the current WIP very visible -- not just the number of tasks, but how long I have been spinning each plate, and how much attention each one is getting. Since these tasks stay on their own page, in FIFO order, I start to see clumping and attenuation effects. These make it very visible, which tasks I have started but have not been getting enough attention to bring them to completion, and which ones really get traction.

This has many side benefits.

1-- It is very visible if I start a task but then don't do anything with it. For example, I start reading a book, fully intending to engage with it. But then I set it aside and neglect it. This stays on my Unfinished Tasks list, and I keep seeing that task over and over again, taking up a whole page, with no notes or actions or follow up. Eventually it becomes the oldest unfinished task. At some point, I really have to ask myself -- why did I pull out that book? Did I really want to start reading the whole thing? Maybe I just wanted a quick diversion, to spend a few minutes flipping through a new book? It has the same effect on any other kind of chasing after shiny new things.

2-- Similarly, there are tasks that DO get some traction, but then somehow get stuck and start to be neglected. The clumping and attenuation also make this very visible -- which makes it easier to deal with it, and to give it some focused attention to get it unstuck.

3-- Repeatedly scanning through all these unfinished tasks provides a sense of my whole load of commitments -- all the stuff I have started but not yet finished. And seeing how some of it never gets any attention, it unconsciously and automatically makes me much more choosy when activating some new task that I can't finish in one go.

4-- This choosiness in starting new tasks has many beneficial effects. First, I free up bandwidth to actually finish the Unfinished Tasks. This creates more and more momentum and focus. It causes me to repeatedly and iteratively rethink and refactor what I really want to focus on, what my commitments really should be.

5-- This helps in weeding out the Unfinished Tasks that are really not going anywhere. I can just delete them, or just decommit and put them back on the New Tasks for later reconsideration.

6-- The overall effect is to find a good equilibrium with optimized flow -- a small enough WIP to actually stay on top of things and make good progress, but also enough level of variety to keep the different parts of my life and work going forward, prevent me from getting bored, and give me choices what else to work on, when something gets stuck.