It's Neal, btw... I've never figured out how Autofocus handles recurring tasks. He has never written a full book on the subject. I'm assuming that people that use Autofucus use the "Do it Tomorrow" diary for recurring tasks. So your VAT example is more of a diary task then an Autofocus one, to me.
As for 300 things I want to do. Autofocus does deal with that concept using pages. Basically, you don't continually add new tasks to the bottom of your page. You periodically start a new page. This could be daily or less frequently depending on how many tasks you typically add. Now as you start your day, you look at your first page. You then have to select something to work on from that page for fifteen minutes. If you can't find anything on that page that you should be working on, you "throw away the page". Basically, if there isn't anything on that page that you are willing to give fifteen minutes of your time then the remaining items on that page aren't worth doing. In that way you remove the things you think you should be doing but have NO intention of actually working on. In that way you don't have a task list of 300 items. You continually pair down your list to only those things you actually intend to do. And again you do it without having to formally prioritize your tasks. On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 4:55 PM, Richard Collings <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks for this Neil. I understand the principle now. > > > > Don’t think it would work for me – I have something like 200-300 things > that I want to do – some of which I enjoy but which are not very important; > other things of which are extremely urgent (eg I had to get my VAT return > into today otherwise I would get a £100 fine which increases for each week > that I am late). If I had to work through a 100 or so other task before > getting to the VAT return task, I could end up owing several thousand > pounds. > > > > I agree prioritisation takes time but I am not sure that I have any > alternative. > > > > Or am I misunderstanding something. > > > > Richard > > > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Neal > *Sent:* 07 October 2010 3:12 AM > > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [MLO] Why does alternate complete move the task to the end > of the list? Can this be made an option? > > > > Actually, "if it is not done, then you will want to finish it off" is > completely opposite the Autofocus technique. Autofocus works more like > this: > > Place the things you need to do in any order you want. > > Look down the list and work on what you think you should be working on. > > Work on it as long as you want to. > > Now scratch it off the list. If it is not completed, however, then > re-write the task to the end of the list. > > Now start at the top of the list and find something to work on. Having > what you just finished at the bottom of the list means you will review all > other tasks before you have a chance of working on that item again. > > In that way you will "prioritize" your tasks without wasting any time > prioritizing... > > On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 7:16 PM, Richard Collings <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Thanks, Neil. > > > > Still not quite sure why you place it at the bottom – surely if it is not > done, then you will want to finish it off before moving on to the next > thing. > > > > I also use Duplicate but alternate complete would allow you mark the > current task complete and create the duplicate in a single step (provided it > didn’t do this thing of putting the task at the end of the list) > > > > > > > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Neal > *Sent:* 06 October 2010 1:54 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [MLO] Why does alternate complete move the task to the end > of the list? Can this be made an option? > > > > Alternate complete moves tasks to the bottom of the list to support the > Autofocus methodology. When you partially work on a task in Autofocus you > "scratch" the task off the list and place it again at the bottom. Andrey > has mentioned that he uses Autofocus for his own work. > > I tend to do what you are asking by using duplicate task. I create a copy > of the task and then mark one of them complete. > > On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 6:52 AM, Richard Collings <[email protected]> > wrote: > > The alternate complete function (Ctrl + Click on complete box) is > potentially quite useful but why does it move the new task to the end of the > list? > > > > In my case, I have a list of tasks > > · Task 1 > > · Task 2 > > · Task 3 > > · Etc > > > > I need to complete Task 1 before I can move onto Task2 but Task 1 is going > to take several bites over several days – so it would be useful to mark it > as partially complete (so that I have a record of having done some work on > it (this is part of the Pomodoro technique) – and also it is > psychologically useful to be able to tick it off – even if partially) but I > do not want the new task to appear at the end of the list – rather for it to > appear just under the task that has been marked as complete. > > > > Can anybody explain why MLO moves the task to the end of the list? Can it > be changed? > > > > If the current behaviour is useful to some people (I don’t use it) – could > this be made an option – ideally at the global level and, possibly, at the > task level. > > > > It would also be useful if the dates of the new task were advanced one day > (again an option would be useful here) > > > > Richard > > > > > > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MyLifeOrganized" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<mylifeorganized%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized?hl=en. > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MyLifeOrganized" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<mylifeorganized%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized?hl=en. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MyLifeOrganized" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<mylifeorganized%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized?hl=en. > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MyLifeOrganized" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<mylifeorganized%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized?hl=en. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MyLifeOrganized" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<mylifeorganized%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. 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