A key element of Autofocus is to pick a task from a list subconsiously, intuitively.  Or how Mark puts it, choose the task that stands out.  There are pages in my system that keep remaining active,  I have difficulty to choose what stands out, but I’m also reluctant to dismiss the whole page.  Here is how I managed to (subconsciously) work around this.  I scan the list, read each task, maybe pick one that doesn’t feel right.  Then I go out for something else, make a tea, make a pee, whatever.  And I notice my mind is busy with an item on the list, not the one I chose, but another one.  That’s my intuitive choice.

Mark Forster suggests a “little and often” approach in task management.  After just reading small snippets of different stuff and loading them into my brain, I suggest an addition.  Change little and often.  It doesn’t matter how small the change is, but whatever you do, make a change.  So for example if you have a task ?Think about cover letter”, and you spend only 1 minute thinking without having any great idea, then just jot down the only bad idea you had.  It may be one word only.

This approach has had some advantages for me.  It feels I really made a step forward, I’m not just playing around.  And looking back two days later, the bad idea can still be a handle to move on — it may even be a base to build on.

This post is just an example of “change little and often”.  I had a task to blog about my experience with Autofocus.  All I wanted to do is post a single sentence, it just kept growing.