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Autofocus 2 Can Help You Manage Your Tasks like a Master

by Alec Satin

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED:  See Remember Everything with Autofocus 4

You may remember reading some months back about the Autofocus task management system created by Mark Forster.  Since February I’ve been using this system exclusively, and have found it exceptionally good at managing both business and personal tasks.  Mark has made some slight updates to the system based on feedback received on the Autofocus community forum.  This new system, Autofocus2 or AF2, is even better than the original Autofocus and is highly recommended.

You should consider using Autofocus 2 if…

• You are a project manager, or
• You attend many meetings and/or have many tasks coming at you throughout the day, or
• You have specific activities you need to do on a particular day, or
• You struggle at times with procrastination, or
• You worry that you are forgetting things or otherwise “dropping tasks”.

Advantages

• Free
• Low overhead – your time is spent doing the work rather than maintaining the system.
• Requires only a dedicated notebook, pen and highlighter.
• Electronic implementation possible (though paper system is more flexible and fun).

Why I like it

• Single place for all your tasks (business and personal).
• It’s a “trusted system”.  Things will not get lost.
• Compatible with the principles of Getting Things Done (GTD).

Little and Often

Mark is a firm believer in the “little and often” approach.  This means that you work only as long as you care to on any particular item.

Dismissal

Autofocus and Autofocus 2 have a wonderful concept called dismissal.  Dismissal is a concept I’ve not found in other time management or organizational systems.  Dismissed items are highlighted and removed from your active list.  This keeps things moving, encourages work on older items and eliminates “dead” items from your list.  You can read more about dismissal here.

Learn how to do Autofocus2 Time Management System

Mark Forster’s Original Autofocus Time Management System

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Tagged as: af2, Autofocus, gtd, Personal Effectiveness, tasks

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15 comments on “Autofocus 2 Can Help You Manage Your Tasks like a Master”

1. Pingback: Alec Satin, MSW, PMP

2. Alec Satin on 16 July 2009 at 5:55 pm said:

   Hi Josh,

   Great! Hope you find it worthwhile. My recommendation would be to start with Autofocus 2. The consensus seems to be that it is quite an improvement to an already good system.

   Email me if you have any specific questions.

   Alec
   .-= Alec Satin´s last blog ..Autofocus 2 Can Help You Manage Your Tasks like a Master =-.

   Reply ↓
3. Josh Nankivel on 16 July 2009 at 4:45 pm said:

   Thanks Alec, I just saw this post in my reader and did a post on pmStudent.com about it, and set up a page with a video interview about AutoFocus (original) for people to watch.

   Very interesting, I think I’ll be giving it a go myself! Shall I start with the original version, or jump right to AutoFocus 2?
   .-= Josh Nankivel´s last blog ..Business Task Management System =-.

   Reply ↓

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7. TracyBrinkmann (Tracy Brinkmann) on 13 July 2009 at 6:29 pm said:

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   Autofocus2 Time Management System Project Management [link to post]

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13. amgyazoor (ahmad ghunaim) on 13 July 2009 at 2:30 pm said:

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    Reading: Autofocus 2 Can Help You Manage Your Tasks like a Master [link to post] by @alecsatin

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14. alecsatin (Alec Satin, PMP) on 13 July 2009 at 1:13 pm said:

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    New Post: Autofocus 2 Can Help You Manage Your Tasks like a Master [link to post] #pmot

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