DonationCoder.com Software > The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006
GETTING ORGANIZED EXPERIMENT - WEEK FOUR+FIVE ASSIGNMENT
momonan:
One of the things I appreciate about app103's InstantBoss http://www.appsapps.info/ is that I can set it for 15-30 minutes of work and then an enforced break. I figure I can hold my breath for that long, then when the break buzzer sounds, I stop even if I'm in the middle of a thought. During the 5-minute break, I can rush around like crazy (check email, make coffee, straighten up), before the "ah man" calls me back to work (yes, I usually want to get back, so I can at least finish my thought). Repeat 3 times, then FREEDOM.
hugosanchez:
The Forster 5 min "rule" is similar to the Allen's 2 min rule: the numbers are relative.
The first says: "Start your day doing something with the main project in hands". The second: "Deliver stuff quickly and come back to work".
If you feel in the right mood to go beyond the first 5 minutes in your main project, you must go on. Do not lost momentum. If fact, as David Allen said, once you start something (may be a little reluctant at the beginning), it is quite possible that you get engaged with the task.
In any case, if your plan of the day is broken, at least was because you were working in something that really matters. I feel that this is the trick behind the 5 minutes rule in the Forster theory.
By the way, I did it today and it works very fine!
Hugo
urlwolf:
Just thinking outloud...
Forster recommends to write everything down, and do ONLY the things that are on the list. This simple thing has proven to be incredibly difficult for me: I tend to do many things (called random distractions probably) that are not in the list.
If you write, a posteriori, the things you did on a day, and then look at your closed list for that day, it may not look very similar.
I guess this is the part where one has to create the habit... and keep trying...
nudone:
i have the same problem - and i bet it's very common. as Forster says in DIT, people find it almost impossible just to do one item that they planned the night before.
i gave up writing a short list of 'will-do' things the night before because i only completed it once out of about a weeks trial.
why is it so easy to fail. well, i'm stepping into the realms of philosophical gobbledygook but i think you are a different person when you wake up the next day - i have been making 'best intentions plans' for years - just before i retire to bed. can't really think of many that i ever got on with the following day.
one thing i do think is crucial that Forster touches on - don't do anything on impulse. think about it first then act upon it. as you mention, he says to write everything down first. but this isn't really practical for a lot of impulse thoughts/actions (maybe he doesn't say to write everything down, i've forgotten).
one thing i'd like to propose we all try at some point during the experiment which i think will demonstrate to ourselves just how out of control we are (or not, if you have a lot of will-power)...
taking Forster's 'delayed action upon impulse thoughts' idea a step further - try attempting to override a bad habit you posses. if you are perfect then fair enough, you won't be able to try it, but for the rest of us mere mortals i suggest you try and restrain a bad habit - just pause before you act upon it. think about it and then make the choice to not carry it out. see if you can - AND if you can, then see if you can do it regularly.
i've been trying it and i can manage about a day or two. i think it's a good 'strength' building exercise to develop greater will-power and self-control - which are going to benefit you controlling other impulse thoughts. let's face it - if you can override a bad habit you've got a good foundation to build upon for other tasks you set yourself.
thomthowolf:
The deadline for this assignment is September 31.
--- End quote ---
30 days hath September, ... :P
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