Autofocus: Why Do I Use It?

Why am I so interested in Autofocus (AF)? What's the big deal about having all of my next actions in just one list? (OK, "one" list that is comprised of both my AF notebook and my Outlook Tasks list considered together, but that's only for convenience's sake.)

  • It's simple. I don't have to think about it. I just capture next actions on the list. I figure out what to do with them later. I simply jot down a next action in my notebook. Or, I drag an actionable e-mail to the Outlook Tasks folder and give it a title phrased as a next action (I'm sure there's a faster way to do this!). That's it.
  • I don't have to worry much about folders, contexts, or categories. (I have just two contexts: work and non-work. And I have just two sets of categories: "Blocked" and "Projects." But I don't worry much about them. More about this in a future post.)
  • When I look at my list several times each day, I naturally figure out what I want to work on next and how I want to work on it. I don't have to worry much about prioritizing, tagging them with a bunch of special symbols, and the like. (However, I do use the "!" symbol for "waiting for" next actions in my AF notebook. More about this in a future post.)

One reminder to myself is to think more about things that come at me in terms of their next actions. If I can't figure out what the next actions are, then I should probably ask for clarity, or I should probably forget about it altogether and see if it comes up again in a clearer way.