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I know there are some folks here who use (or have toyed with) Mark Forster's SuperFocus system.

I like everything about it EXCEPT: it's not GTD.

OmniFocus and GTD seem to have a brilliant method of organization: you can view by project and task, or, often better, by context. This is tricky on paper.

SuperFocus has you work your way through the list (in a paper notebook), one page at a time. This is tricky in OF, since there are no pages.

Tasks that get worked on, get moved to the end of the notebook, for more work later. Tasks that haven't, GET DISMISSED (dismissed for review later, not thrown out). I find this brilliant, since the list becomes self-righting, the more you work it.

I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on using OF to achieve SF?

I'd like all the OF power of being able to work in contexts or in projects (self-directed mode, we could call it), or shifting into page-by-page SuperFocus mode (automatic dismissal mode). Even if working exclusively in contexts or projects, I'd like to emulate SF's dismissal of task that haven't been touched.

Thanks, smarties!
 
I don't know Superfocus, but from what you've described, OF doesn't have the ability to do that.

My first thought is to use contexts for your 'lists' and set all tasks to repeat once a week with a start date and finish date of today, when you then complete the task, it will 'disappear' and a new one will be created to start in a week.

But it may not work to crowbar something into OF

If you use IOS, Evernote and Egretlist may work far better for you as it has tags, so you could prioritise tasks, you can work in Evernote on the desktop or web and egret list on iPad or iPhone/iPod touch
 
I don't know if SuperFocus really lends itself to any particular task management program.

This sounds like something that a programmer would have to whip up to create a custom solution that uses the SuperFocus methodology.

I know I did see a Do It Tomorrow iPhone app that followed the D-I-T methodology (an earlier predecessor to Mark Forster's SuperFocus).

So maybe someone will come up with a SuperFocus app for the desktop and/or the iPhone/iPad.....
 
Now that I think about it, maybe OmniOutliner would be a better choice for SuperFocus?

OmniOutliner is a bit more freeform than OmniFocus and SuperFocus might just fit in there better.
 
Maybe I'm over-simplifying it but I've looked at some of his methods and I've never really seen much that isn't accomplished with GTD and regular weekly reviews ?
I know for me personally , the only way I can keep my lists fresh and weed out the cruft , is to do regular reviews .
The only time I've built over complicated OF structures etc , is when I wasn't doing my reviews .
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ext555 View Post
Maybe I'm over-simplifying it but I've looked at some of his methods and I've never really seen much that isn't accomplished with GTD and regular weekly reviews ?
I know for me personally , the only way I can keep my lists fresh and weed out the cruft , is to do regular reviews .
The only time I've built over complicated OF structures etc , is when I wasn't doing my reviews .
I agree with ext555. Many folks who are not versed in GTD don't understand the need for a weekly review and throw up some sort of mindblock about it.

I attempted SuperFocus and its predecessor AutoFocus a while back and felt like I was spinning my wheels. I kept seeing the same tasks over and over.

Seeing an ugly sheet of crossed out lines/tasks next to uncompleted tasks just made me feel icky.... Maybe it's the OCD? ;-p

The beauty of OmniFocus was that I could set review intervals. At least I know I would be able to review a project and it will come up again at a set interval (weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly).

The weekly review is the essential ingredient that is needed to keep your lists, projects, and tasks relevant. I can trust my OmniFocus system after having done a weekly review to weed out tasks/projects that have become irrelevant or demoted in priority/status/importance.


@Mark: It was a nice try. But I'm sure there are some folks that can find a use for it.
 
Thanks for all the replies on this.

Some of the complaints against Auto/SuperFocus are the reasons I'm trying to "shoehorn" it into OmniFocus. It can be messy, and keeping it all on paper can be a pain.

On the other hand, where Wilsonng "kept seeing the same tasks over and over," I see the system telling me that those are item I'm not paying attention to--so they need work, or to get out of the system! And that's the effect I'm trying to duplicate in Omni.

I'm being fairly satisfied with using folders to represent pages. It takes a minute to set up a new "page" when I need one, but it definitely allows the SuperFocus cycle to work, plus the advantages of contexts and a clean appearance (and my favorite, synchronization across three devices!).
 
GTD certainly isn't the only way to get things done. I think there's some attraction to Forster's ideas, especially if you don't like planning out projects, or your tasks don't naturally fall into projects. GTD (especially when using OmniFocus) really wants you to break your work down into smallish chunks that you can do in a single session, whereas SuperFocus handles repeated swipes at a task without additional difficulty. For some people, the extra structure GTD imposes is comforting and helps them move through their work, and for others, it will be just the opposite.

I've toyed with the idea of trying to shoehorn AF or SF into an OmniFocus + AppleScript implementation, but it really seems like OmniOutliner would be a more receptive vessel, given the two column setup. I'd be quite interested in learning more about how you're making it work in OmniFocus.

As for the review, I think some sort of review is essential, but I prefer the rolling review that OmniFocus facilitates, rather than the all-at-once periodic review that a paper-based GTD system encourages. SuperFocus' dismissal rules enforce a bit of a rolling review, as well. It isn't ideally suited to doing your 20k-50k stuff, perhaps, but I don't see why one can't take a set of review checklists like the ones Curt Clifton has shared and apply them to any system that helps you to get the runway-level work done, whether it be GTD, Covey, SuperFocus, Pomodoro, Magic 8-Ball, etc.
 
Since you seem to know the basics of the SuperFocus system, I won't try to convert you here, but just show you how I have it set up. I'm about 75% satisfied with this, but I feel that OF (or something) would provide more automation.

The only thing not shown in the graphic is SuperFocus's idea of "column 2", which I emulate simply by flagging column 2 items (which are deemed urgent, and are required to be acted on before leaving the page).

Oh, and I keep the folders closed, except the one that I'm currently on.

All that said, one of the things I'm liking about doing this in OF, is the freedom to jump in to context view and work there. Obviously this takes me out of the SF flow, but I still treat those tasks or projects under the SF rules. In other words, if I work on a task in context mode that's in my Page 2 folder, I'll use the inspector (or a second open window) to move that item to the last open page, for later work. That way, it will continue to show up in context mode, or, if I'm in strick SF mode, it shows up when I get to it, going through in page order.

Not as complicated as it sounds! But why do all this? For me, the MOVEMENT of the task through the system is very motivating. It's a visual indicator that you're moving forward (or not!), and the system doesn't allow you to look at a page (or a context), and just say, "Oi, I can't do any of that right now." You've GOT to do something or the system rejects the task--and possibly the page!

I haven't posted a graphic here before, so I'm hoping it goes through ok.

 
Looks really interesting , I was reviewing his web site last night and thought " flags would be a great way of indicating column 2 items " and I see that's how you're doing it .

My biggest question with the system [knowing how I work ]
How do you decide when a page is " full " electronically , since it's technically never full ?? do you just fill up one screen and then switch to another ? or do you limit it to a certain number of items per " page " . ?
 
 


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