Get Everything Done

Hi all,

I found Mark's site by chance and started using Auto Focus about a year ago and found it quite useful. I've stopped by from time to time to see Mark's updated systems and read your discussions and have dabbled with the other systems. But I've found that all the supposed refinements were not a net benefit to me. I see a lot of you like AF4, but I find the slightly more complex manner of working the lists more trouble than it's worth. I just read the preview of the new system and also can't see how it would benefit me over AF1.

I also tried to do a hybrid of Auto Focus and David Allen's Getting Things Done using next actions and keeping separate lists for separate projects... but that turned out to be a bust. I like some of the GTD concepts, but I've found a single list via AF1 the best for capturing my actions and helping me process them.

Are there others like me who found the sheer simplicity of the first version of Auto Focus to work the best?

regards,

-Jonathan

Yes, yes, yes. I switched to AF1 a year ago. Read this site avidly almost daily and yet have never felt the need to pursue the AF2-4s. I'm a lurker, have never felt the need to post before. But I'm posting because as an AF1-er sometimes I feel like I'm going it alone. I too love the simplicity of AF1.

I should add that I switched to AF1 after 4 years of badly doing GTD. So I'm completely steeped in GTD concepts (I read a couple of GTD sites weekly to stay motivated) but I practice AF1 not GTD anymore.

I am just about to return to AF1. (I've been taking an enforced break from any TM system, due to having not much discretionary time lately.) AF1 remains my favourite, because of its simplicity. The rules don't get in the way.

Sometimes there is something so urgent that the list can't handle it - or rather I can't handle it! - so then I just make an 'emergency list' and clear that, before going back to AF. Its usually quite easy to pick up again where I left off.

That's something else I love about AF1 - a day or two away doesn't make the list collapse. The later versions of AF didn't seem so forgiving - perhaps because they have stronger elements of automatic dismissal.

The new system sounds interesting, but I am going to try and resist it - I don't think it will suit me any better than AF1 and I know from experience that playing with new toys always means less work gets done!

I've tried AF2-4 but always go back to AF1 again. I've been using it successfully for a year now after abandoning my Franklin planner which never worked...at all.

As the year started I had very little discretionary time and spent most of my day responding to immediate needs. AF1 allowed me a place to document work that was not immediate so I could concentrate on the immediate needs. I did not put most of these urgent tasks in AF1 since they almost always required an immediate response. When I had brief periods of discretionary time I could immediately pick up my list and start on a task. There was no wasted time rethinking tasks and wondering what I should start on next.

During the course of the year my job changed to a position that involves planning for future projects. As a result most of my day now is discretionary. AF1 keeps me on track with outstanding work and gives me a way to see all outstanding work. It has worked very well for me.

For me, AF1 is still the best for both a busy schedule with little discretionary time and a schedule that is mostly discretionary time.

By slow degrees I drifted back to AF1 (from using AF4) a few months ago and my productivity improved.

I find that I like treating each page as a seperate closed list. So I only need to focus on that one page until I feel there are no more things that want to be done on it.I cycle through all my pages a few times each day.

I do skip to the newest page for urgent items. So I never worry about urgent things getting left behind. I am ruthless at dismissing old pages when it is clear that they are not getting any action.

I insist on doing at least one item from every page as I cycle through them. If nothing on a page wants to be done - I mark the remaining items for dismissal. At the end of the day (or start of the next day) I dismiss those items. Sometimes I will re-cast a dismissed item and enter it again. But mostly I just let them go. If they are important they will pop up again in my life later.

I found AF2 thru AF4 did not suit me so well. AF1 is like a comfortable pair of shoes - I do more mileage with less effort. Each to his or her own.

Paul

Thank you for all the replies. I'm glad to know I'm in good company as an AF1 user! I think Mark's note described my situation well: I have a lot of disparate tasks, and a good deal of discretionary time. As long as I can keep my head above water with all my projects, I will have few urgent tasks (maybe that's the same with most people?).

So it's a virtuous cycle: the better I do at sticking with AF1, the fewer "fire drills" I'll encounter (the cause of urgent tasks), and therefore the better AF1 will meet my needs.

Thank you, Mark, for this useful system, and thanks all for the thoughtful discussions.

best,

-Jonathan

I'm currently still (more or less) using AF4, but as I wrote elsewhere, I'm strongly considering going back to AF1. I've never been as productive as the first 4 months of last year when I started using AF from the day it was published. I skipped AF2; AF3 I tried but left it behind very quickly because it didn't work for me. AF4 works reasonable well, and its main advantage over AF1 is that it has allowed me to shrink my sprawling number of open pages back to a manageable 6 or 7. But I still think AF1 is better.

As Mark says:

<<I'm very fond of AF1 myself and I think it particularly suits people who have a lot of discretionary time and not a lot of urgent work.>>

My job indeed has me working on a collection of initiatives of different sizes, none of them with "same-day" urgency. The most urgent is in general "by the end of the week" or "next week". Also not too many meetings and lots of discretionary time. So these seem to be the ideal conditions for AF1. I'm still sticking to AF4 to give it some more of a fair chance, but every day I feel the pull back to AF1 getting stronger.

I'm not going to try the new DWM system at all; the only alternative to AF1 that I'd consider would be a return to the original DIT which I used with reasonable success for a few years before AF (I'm rereading the book right now).

I use AF1. It works for me.

Mark Forster said:
>> I'm about to post a blog entry on "Is DWM closer to DIT or AF?" You might be surprised by the answer! <<

Looking forward to that post, that's still being drafted/reviewed. Unless, Mark accidentally post it as "draft" instead of "publish", that is. ;-)