I’m a big fan of Mark Forster and have all three of his books (pre-ordering two of them). Mark has lots of tips for increasing productivity that do not involve a complex system like Getting Things Done. I have found many of his ideas beneficial particularly rotating through tasks implementing little and often, the concept of a closed list and minimising distractions by not working on incoming tasks until tomorrow.
Before giving birth I developed a new organisation system that incorporated many of Mark Forster’s ideas, as well as some from Getting Things Done. However, I soon realised it was not going to work because of the time it took to set up each day. Fortunately Mark issued a request for Beta testers for his new system AutoFocus in January 2009 just as I was looking to spend time on things other than baby.
AutoFocus
The best way to understand AutoFocus is to read the instructions on Mark’s site and to watch the video of Mark demonstrating how it works.
AutoFocus is designed to be a simple productivity system; you can’t get much more simple than a notebook and pen. In fact when you read the instructions your first reaction is likely to be that will never work and so think of ways to ‘make it better’. However after trying it for while you’ll wonder how you never came up with the method on your own.
The method has one list that all ideas are added to (without the initial filtering of GTD). Working through the list encourages you to start tasks that may have been around for a long time, examines why you maybe resisting a task and identifies items you don’t actually want to do. Sound too good to be true? It isn’t.
What I like about AutoFocus
- the simplicity, it requires a notebook, a pen and a highlighter (although I use two highlighters as I like to highlight completed tasks)
- the ease of keeping the tasks up to date, if you forget to add tasks for a day or find them scribbled on a piece of paper, it doesn’t matter just add them in
- you don’t feel silly adding all type of tasks on the list; I’ve got tasks to do with organising my return to work as well as books and magazines I want to read
- it helps you find the quickest way of completing a task. Mark talks about a task ‘standing out’, sometimes I’ve found this is a task ‘nagging’ me such as vacuuming the house. Once I’ve decided to do it my brain starts working how I can complete the task (or part of the task) as quickly as possible so I can move on to more enjoyable items (whereas in the past I would have ignore the task or procrastinated)
- you get the ‘reward’ of crossing off a task for doing just part of it
- if you lose your list you can easily start again (fortunately I haven’t needed to test this)
What I did wrong when I implemented AutoFocus
Maybe I was in too much of a rush when I first implemented AutoFocus but I made two mistakes; one which has certainly made things more difficult. As they are both mistakes that other people may make I thought I’d mention them.
- I added in tasks off my previous list, but I was so excited I have to admit that it wasn’t just my previous list it was the one before that as well. Mark recommends that you build up your list organically with items that occur to you from now, and one of those items should be to work on the backlog list. Having added all my backlog items means I have a long list to work through, but looking at the positives I have already completed some tasks that have been around for a long time
- Each day I started the list from the first page rather than the last page I’d worked on. In some ways this wasn’t a big problem because I was still working on tasks and dismissing them, but I didn’t get the feeling of making progress through the list and instead just felt the list growing while I was still on page 1.
My experience of AutoFocus
I’m very impressed with AutoFocus and it is perfect for me at the moment because it is very low maintenance. I’m not making quick progress through the list, in fact I haven’t finished my first pass through the list (hopefully today or tomorrow). However, this doesn’t bother me because while I’m on maternity leave my main role is to look after the baby and it is not appropriate to include nappy changes and feeds so the list is only for the times I have outside of those things, which isn’t always a lot. The important thing to me is that I am being productive in my available time.
My list includes a lot of duplicates which makes it longer, but whenever I think of a task I simply add it to the list without checking whether it is already on. This means tasks which are praying on my mind or need doing more often such as tidying the house appear more often than other tasks such as review my blog stats.
What I’m anticipating is that once I’ve started my second pass I will either dismiss a lot of tasks or discover I’ve already completed a lot of them, this will enable me to reduce the list size and hopefully enable me to rotate through the list at least once in a week instead of once in four months! For information, my position on 12th April 2009 was
- 1 page dismissed
- 41 active pages
- 21 unopened pages
Taking AutoFocus forward
So far I’ve only used AutoFocus for my tasks at home, however I’m planning on introducing it at work when I return later in the year. From what I’ve read about other people’s experiences on Mark Forster’s forums I’m planning on introducing two changes. Firstly I intend to use an A4 notebook rather than A5 because this will enable me to rotate through the tasks quicker and secondly to add a column to highlight any deadlines (although I will still work through them the same).
Can you scan in a page of your Autofocus organisations, so we can see how you use it?
Hi Gary,
I thought about taking a photograph of my list, but decided it was very boring as it is just a list. However, as you have requested it I will add some pictures soon.
Great post about AutoFocus
Never see such a review, “what I like”…and so on. Will try it, but would you tell us how this has helped you? Thanks in advance, and all the best.
Thanks for the comment, I will write post soon which includes things I’ve achieved using AutoFocus
I keep wondering whether I should jump in and try this Autofocus method, but I’m still unsure of how some of it works.
When you wake up in the morning, which page do you start on? The earliest page that still has something outstanding on it?
Once I’ve completed a task and crossed it off (and rewritten at the end if necessary), then checked the whole page and found nothing else standing out at me, do I highlight all items not yet crossed off? If so, then for me, that would be most of them on each page – as most of them would be on my to-do list because they haven’t been done previously! (And I’d consequently get nothing done!)
Gary,
There is little I can add to Mark’s response because of course he knows best!
However one suggestion I’ve picked up from the forum that maybe relevant for your work projects – instead of adding each task to your list, add each project (or component of the project) and keep a separate task list for each project.
This will mean when you are rotating through your list you are reducing the chances of getting to a task that you can’t complete as it is out of order, or working on a task that is less important than others on that project.
If you decide to give it ago, I hope it works well for you
Hi, Gary.
In answer to your questions:
1) You start in the morning where you left off the previous day.
2) No, you only highlight (“dismiss”) tasks if you don’t do any tasks on the page when you visit it. This will normally only happen when there are one or two remaining items on a page.
Like most things, you can only really understand Autofocus if you actually do it. So my advice would be to start it, and if you get any questions ask them on the Forum on my website http://www.markforster.net/forum
Good luck with the system!
Thanks for the review, Kate!
Mark,
I’m always happy to write a review for you. Thank you for releasing this system at the perfect time for me.
Hi Mark, thank you for taking the time out to answer my questions!
Having read some bits on your forum, and thought through the process, I think it’s becoming clearer on why this system may work (for me). I’ll probably give it a go!
Great post, Kate. I, too, am an autofocus convert. Rather than adding a column with due dates, could I suggest a different approach? If something has a due date, I add that in brackets and highlight it in pink. It acts as a reminder. I also add it to my tickler at a time when I think I should have started working on it, so that I get a second reminder.
Cris
Hello Cris,
Thank you for your comment. I had seen the suggestion of writing the due date in line with the task, but I thought it wouldn’t stand out enough, but I like your idea of highlighting the task, particularly as it means not needing to rule a due column on each page. However, I’ve got another 6 months before I return to work so maybe Mark will have released details of his new system by then! If it works well with urgent tasks as he suggest it could be very useful.
That’s a nice article about autofocus. Thank you.
I haven’t read an article about autofocus before.It is more than great.I will wait for some pictures.
That is a great coincidence.I’m also a big fan of Mark Forster.That’s why I find the post to my taste.Keep it up!
I would like to thank you for the link with the instructions.And to tell you that I share your opinion that AutoFocus a simple productivity system.