A friend emailed me a link to Mark Forster's web site. Forster is a fellow author on time management. He proposes a unique system of time management.
When I first read it, I was skeptical since his system does not include the prioritization which I am used to. But I tried it for a couple of days (but honestly, only for about 4 hours per day since I like my prioritized todo system) and I found that it does work well.
It would be a great system to beat procrastination.
A summary of how it work is below and more details are on his web site.
From his site:
Quick Start
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The system consists of one long list of everything that you have to do, written in a ruled notebook (25-35 lines to a page ideal). As you think of new items, add them to the end of the list. You work through the list one page at a time in the following manner:
Read quickly through all the items on the page without taking action on any of them.
Go through the page more slowly looking at the items in order until one stands out for you.
Work on that item for as long as you feel like doing so
Cross the item off the list, and re-enter it at the end of the list if you haven't finished it
Continue going round the same page in the same way.
Don't move onto the next page until you complete a pass of the page without any item standing out
Move onto the next page and repeat the process
If you go to a page and no item stands out for you on your first pass through it, then all the outstanding items on that page are dismissed without re-entering them.
Once you've finished with the final page, re-start at the first page that is still active.
Each of these steps is explained in more detail on his site, but I suggest you get going now and read the rest of the instructions later. Don't forget to put "Read the rest of the instructions" as one of your tasks. You don't need a huge number of tasks to start with, just add tasks as you think of them or they come up.
Thanks for sharing this....love the simplicity of it.
ReplyDeleteJust to correct the previous poster, Forster's AutoFocus does NOT tell you to "finish the first page before you move to the next."
ReplyDeleteI've become a big fan of this method, and one way in which it excels is helping you cycle through your tasks quickly and often--which keeps a huge amount of info fresh in your brain and let's you basically prioritize on the fly.
Alex - The way the system works cannot be understood merely by reading the instructions - it needs to be actioned to understand how it works. I think you would be very surprised if you actually gave it a try - I'm sure you're not really too old and set in your ways :-)
ReplyDeleteIf it didn't work there wouldn't be such immense buzz about it on Mark Forster's website - neither would it have been translated into so many languages!
Alex R: when I was at school I was repeatedly told, "Read the instructions caerfully." I suggest you adopt the same approach.
ReplyDeleteRe your points:
(1) See my first paragraph above.
(2) Mark's instructions stress the importance of a diary, calendar or similar tool. See my first paragraph. I use Outlook 2007. I've been using AF for over two months and have been from paper to electronic and back to paper, as have self-confessed gadget geeks
(3) AF is not a project management system, BUT it does stress the benefits and ease of "little and often" for interdependent and/or sequential tasks. PM systems and other tools "feed" AF.
(4) See (1) above.
RTFM and then try it!
I am giving Auto Focus a try and it looks like I am going to use it as my main method for dealing with my tasks. It is genius in its simplicity. I have ordered 2 of Mark Forsters books and they are both Great. "Do it Tomorrow" and "Get everything Done" are both must reads.
ReplyDeleteI love GTD by David Allen and also the RPM or "Time of Your Life" system by Anthony Robbins. Neil Fiore has some good ideas in "The Now Habit" including his "Unschedule".
I think using elements of all of these systems will end up being optimal for me. I am going to use Auto Focus as the center of my system.