Workflowy – an actually useful tool
In my last post I explained why I think use pen and paper is better than pretty much any other tool I've found for time management. Now I'm going to totally contradict myself by recommending Workflowy.
The guys at workflowy have kept it super simple and basically made a tool that works just about like pen and paper, but enhanced it all the right ways...
Where my experiment left me…
I recently posted about my new attempts to use the online task management software (here).
Honestly the only way I found to really get back on track with the deficiencies of the tools was to revert back to good 'ol pen and paper. There is something extremely rewarding about writing things down and see them checked off. You are never fighting the tool. When I'm using an electronic tool I'm always wanting it to do one more thing than is really does. Then I look for workarounds, then I just live with it, but all the while knowing that what I want is possible, but just not in this tool.
The pencil and paper system like I wrote about previously are rock solid systems that really just work. They take all the focus off the system and just getting things done. I can highly recommend it.
And all of that said I have finally found an electronic system that pretty much just works (well 98%). More on that next time.
Loren
GTD Mac Showdown Round 2
Almost 2 years ago I posted an article comparing OmniFocus and and Things as tools for implementing a GTD system on the Mac. Since that time I've received a number of comments on the blog asking an update on that or complaining that my original arguments are out of date. Although I'd been happily using my Uberfocus system (variant of AutoFocus) for almost a year I decided it was time to take a step back and see if something really had changed. I committed to try each tool for 30 days and this article is a result of that investigation.
I'm going to just lay this out in chronological order of how my experiment unfolded. I ended up in a different place than I started, but not for any of the reasons I expected.
Getting ready…
If you are like many people, in a week or so you'll be sitting down and writing out your New Years Resolutions. I will be doing something like that too. I like to prepare for that a couple of weeks in advance by considering a couple of questions so that when I sit down to contemplate the new year I've seeded the ground a bit. Here are four questions to ask yourself as you prepare:
QUESTION #1: What am I no longer willing to tolerate or compromise on in my life?
QUESTION #2: What are my basic core beliefs?
QUESTION #3: What specific things do I need to be doing for my behavior to be more aligned with what I truly believe.
QUESTION #4: What would I be willing to give up to have more of what I truly want?
I won't provide many examples because I don't want to limit how you might think about these questions, but Question #2 might require a bit of explanation. For this I try to think about things where my internal thoughts don't seem to match my external behavior. So I might really believe its important to serve in my community, but I never really do. Or do I really believe its important? I mean watching TV is pretty important to, right? Or I might believe that be truly successful at the level I want I'd need to eat a healthy diet, but I eat at McDonalds twice a day, or....what is it for you? And what does it take to begin doing more of what really matters?
Happy New Year!
Uberfocus – My tweaks to AF4
I have been a big fan of Mark Forster's AutoFocus time management systems. Each of them were excellent, but were still lacking in some way. In early September Mark published his latest version, AutoFocus 4 (or just AF4). Many people have reported AF4 to be the best version so far. For me it has been quite a step backward. So it finally propelled me into developing my own system and I'm very happy with the results so far and this post describes the system. Let me first explain my issues with AF4. (For details on AF4, go here).
Experience with Revised AutoFocus 2
In my continuing quest to try and report on the various AutoFocus approaches for the past 2 weeks I have been experimenting with Mark Forster's revised rules for AutoFocus. After my last post on using AutoFocus 2 with OmniFocus I switched back to paper and pencil methods. So here is my report on using the revised AutoFocus.
First I have to say I was quite happy to be back to pencil and paper. I felt that this worked much better for me. One of the things I've liked so much about AutoFocus is that it builds a sense of momentum, but I felt this was lacking somewhat using AutoFocus where there was really no notion of a page, and little sense of completion or progress. It's a little like running on a treadmill compared to running outside. I think an AutoFocus app could be built, but I don't think you can just take a GTD app and redeploy it as an AutoFocus application and get all the benefits of AutoFocus.
In many ways this experiment with the revised AutoFocus rules was something of a failure. The major change here is the use of modes a reverse mode and a forward mode. Forward mode is handled by entering a task on your list called "Switch to Forward mode" and then when that is the task that sticks out you switch to Forward mode. Over the two weeks I've been doing this I only found myself switching into forward mode 3 times. I found the tail end of my list far more compelling and important. The beginning of my list that could only be reached using Forward mode really didn't have that many truly critical and important tasks so they tended to get dismissed each day (with a few exceptions). Dismissing those tasks always seemed very reasonable and painless. There were tasks that I dismissed that I wished I'd gotten around to doing, but none of them were a big deal.
OmniFocus for AutoFocus 2
This is a quick update on a 2-week experiment I've just completed using OmniFocus as a tool for implementing AutoFocus 2.
When Mark Forster posted his updates on using AutoFocus I started a new notebook and began using it and loved it. A number of people were posting on his forums about successfully using OmniFocus and other electronic versions. In my opinion this was only made possible with the use of Open Lists in AF2 vs. Closed Lists in AF. I have purchased and have extensively tested both OmniFocus and Things as traditional GTD tools. I have previously stated my preference for Things over OmniFocus, but OmniFocus does provide much better syncing with the iPhone and so I opted to go with OF for this test.
AutoFocus 2 – Experience so far
AutoFocus review
On June 27, Mark Forster released his AutoFocus 2 which is a followup to his AutoFocus time management system released earlier this year.
AutoFocus is described on Mark's site and I did an earlier comparison of it to David Allen's GTD here. AF2 is designed to resolve some of the issues that have been observed about AF. Mark describes these well on his site. This quick article is my description of my experience with AF2 after the first 10 days.
Overall I'm very pleased with AF2. It has really re-engaged my use of the system. I found my use of AF flagging a little bit in the few weeks before AF2 came out. I think this was partly due to having split my lists into a Home and Work list. With AF2 I am back to a single list. While I initially really liked the "closed list" idea of working on a single page until there were no items that were standing out, it became difficult to iterate through the list fast enough to deal with urgent issues. In AF2 you work backwards through the list and after each task you jump to the end again so it allows very rapid progress as items come up. I find that this makes it difficult to get back to items earlier in the list though. So far I've solved this by making one linear pass through the list each day, where I start at the end and just keep working back. Then I follow the normal rules the rest of the day. This seems to work well and allows reasonable progress on all parts of the list, but also allows me to make quick progress on important items and things that are important that come up during the day.
The other thing I really like are the new rules for dismissing items. It becomes pretty clear what items will get dismissed "tomorrow" and almost every day I have dismissed one task. On one occassion it was a task I really should have done, but just didn't get to and it was reasonably urgent (but really dreaded doing). In every other case, the dismissal has removed a task that really isn't that important, or something that is important, but not for a while. These new dismissal rules are great and help get pages cleaned up much faster than before.
When I started AF2 I threw away my old list and started with a brand new notebook. In 10 days I've got 12 pages, 2 of which are closed, and many of the pages have just a few items remaining. My pages currently hold 26 tasks, compared to the 40 my prior notebook hold. I find I like having a bit more room to write the tasks. In comparing my current statistics to my earlier experience with AF after 5 weeks, it appears that I'm moving a bit faster and closing pages faster as well.
The best way to compare AF and AF2 is they both seem to build incredible momentum to getting tasks done, but with AF2 there is more fluidity and it feels easier to naturally follow through on important tasks whereas with AF it often felt as if I sometimes needed to do unimportant tasks in favor of things I knew intuitively were more important. As stated earlier, I think the biggest problem now is how to really handle important things that aren't at the head of the list. I do believe that the key to resolving all these issues is to really internalize and follow the notion that your intuition is the guide and determines what "stands out".
If you are using AF2, what is your experience?
Autofocus vs. GTD
I have been using the Autofocus system for time management for the 5 weeks and wanted to write a post to describe my experience.
The Autofocus system is simple and you can read about it at the link above. I won't detail how the system works because you can read it there. It is an alternative to GTD although I think they complement each other somewhat rather than being strictly mutually exclusive.
What I like about it is expressed by the following quote:
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication"...Leonard da Vinci
First let me provide a bit of background...
I have used GTD for about 3 years. My experience with it has been positive overall, but I never was able to get to the point where I really felt on top of everything in front of me. The idea of Inbox Zero and collection were extremely effective for me. The "2 Minute Rule" made sure I responded to many more emails quickly and properly filed the actions that I needed to come back to later. I feel that fewer important things got dropped and I could always find emails and things that needed to be responded to.
My major challenges with GTD have been the following:
- Weekly Reviews seem essential and are very rewarding, but so hard to get around to and complete in a busy schedule. In discussing GTD with colleagues and reading what others struggle with online it seems to be a consistent issue. I've heard David Allen say that the people who succeed with GTD are the ones who do the Weekly Review.
- People seem to constantly fall off the GTD bandwagon. There are definitely things that are easy, like collection, but getting things organized into Projects, Tasks/Next Actions, Contexts, Tickler files, Someday/Maybe, etc., is a bit of work in itself. If this unravels I think the system breaks down pretty quickly.
- Widget cranking is a bit overrated. I understand the intellectual argument of separating planning and action and the psychological payoff of completing a task.
- When to do it...GTD seems to lack any specific guidance on when to do an action. It seems to emphasize just cranking through the list based on context and prioritization is downplayed. I haven't found that this works well and its too easy to start jumping around working on whats easy rather than what's important. Maybe there are great solutions to this in GTD, but I haven't seen them.
10 Power Mind Tips for Commuting
Making Commuting Fun
While an increasing number of people are working from home, most of us still spend significant amounts of time in our cars or the train or a bus going to and from a job, visiting clients, or if you are lucky just going back and forth to the bank to deposit your big checks.
Like we discussed in a recent post, those minutes can really add up. You might not be able to easily reduce the amount of time you spend in the car, but you can probably make better use of your time and arrive more relaxed, smarter, and more prepared for what comes next. So here are 10 tips for spending your commuting time wisely.
- Review the day from multiple perspectives. Don't just think about the day from one perspective, but think about a few key interactions you had (face-to-face, over the phone, or e-mail) and think about them from the perspective of each of the other people involved. Then imagine you are an objective 3rd party just watching the interaction and think about it from that perspective. This always has a way of adding some new perspective to the situation for me. And remember just because you think about it from their perspective doesn't mean you know what they are thinking...you probably aren't a mind reader yet, but at least you can see the situation from a perspective other than your own.