Inspired by

• The Building Blocks of Productivity | Hypotheses
• The Autofocus Time Management System

My method

1. write down a list of all the things I need to do (usually slack, in a DM to myself)
2. order doesn’t really matter but super important things often tend to be at the top
3. each time before doing anything, roughly look over the entire list
4. certain things tend to catch my eye more (maybe subconsciously that is important or more interesting)
5. go over those items multiple times, visualising the actual work needed
6. pick whichever at random and work at it
7. when done, cross that item out but don't delete it (has satisfaction of achieving something)
8. repeat the previous steps
9. the next day, copy the list over into a new page/issue/whatever and remove the items that are crossed out
10. add new tasks as needed

I mainly use this method only when I have a large number of tasks that I need to burn through, but during times like that, this method is amazingly good for productivity (for me).

It helps me maintain focus on things that need to be done. It’s basically the same concept as ‘Out of sight, out of mind’. If I don’t see it, it doesn’t exist. If I do see it, I can then focus on it.

I’ve not given too much thought to it and never really tried to formalise the method. I probably have a slightly different method each time but the gist of the idea is there. Then I read the above blog post and noticed that the autofocus method is quite similar to what I’ve been doing this whole time and so decided I should write it down.

In sight, in mind.