Feb
11
Simple Time Management System
ByI’ve been using Mark Forster’s new Autofocus time management system since the beginning of the year.
What I love about it:
- It’s intuitive
- It’s extremely simple
- You don’t need a bunch of new tools
- You can start it immediately
- It cuts down on procrastination and resistance
You can read the instructions here:
Let me know if you try it out.
You can find similar articles below
- Systems for Managing Your Mail
- Time Management Program
- 24 Time Management Tips
- Dealing with Overwhelm
- Weekly Simplicity Tips
Hi Beth
I read through the instructions and I can’t see how it’s different to a normal to-do list.
What do you find has changed for you from what you were doing before and what you’re doing now?
For a regular to do list, you normally have some kind of master list. Then you pick out ones you want to do that day. And usually you don’t reach the end. Then you feel guilty.
With this way you are reading your to do’s throughout the day and intuitively deciding what to do next. And you don’t have to finish the to do at that time. If you don’t, you add it back to the bottom of the list. Which keeps projects moving.
As you see your to do’s during the day, and the next day and the next, for some reason you don’t procrastinate as much. You know something is ready to be done.
I think it’s the kind of thing that needs to be tried because it sounds so simple but has such a good impact on how you are feeling and your productivity. (or maybe not yours, since you are always so productive
I’ve been trying this the last couple weeks after failing at GTD for too long. I still cheat a little and keep 3 separate lists (main work project, misc. work, personal), but I’ll try to get it down to just work and personal soon. For me, the big win is it’s simple enough that I can accomplish it with pen and paper. I don’t need fancy software. It’s just a couple big lists. Crossing stuff off helps me see progress, and most of the time, I can give myself permission to do anything off my list, instead of feeling like I have to do the top one. When a page is almost all crossed off and there’s just one thing left, I know I’ve been procrastinating on it, but there’s no sense of failure like if I’d set a specific deadline and missed it.