Version 1.2 is stable, however some crashes may occur when backing syncing to Dropbox occurs, especially if you cannot access the Internet. If this occurs, turn off syncing in the settings app until you can get a more reliable connection. It is also best to let background syncing complete before switching context files to avoid problems than can occur rarely.

Please purchase Pro if you are using Tiny Tasks a lot because your data cannot be moved from Free to Pro on your device. If you have a lot of data to move, the “Summarize All” feature allows you to send it all in an email. If you spend a little time to create import files for each context, you can move data from Free to Pro. Logs cannot be transferred using import files.

I hope you enjoy these new features. Thank you for choosing Tiny Tasks.

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Usability has been improved. Defects have been removed. Version 1.1 has no known issues.

Tiny Tasks Pro will cost $0.99 on 1/1/2013.

Please purchase Pro if you are using Tiny Tasks a lot because your data cannot be moved from Free to Pro on your device.

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Best Wishes for the Holiday.

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Reason
Reminders
Routine
Reconditioning

I’m compiling a database of the 4 Rs people are using to make lasting change.

I’m really not sure what mine are at the moment. I think this is why I missed step 1. My reason has changed over time, often out of necessity, due to layoffs etc. time to get clear. Much of my motivation comes from wanting to help people gain control over their lives when they realize they’ve peaked and need to redirect their efforts to get back on a growth path. With downsizing and other factors pushing people into survival mode now, daring to want and believe “thrival” is possible is difficult for them.

Personally I oscillate between believing thrival is possible for myself usually when I’m impatient or not diligent following through on my ideas. Entrepreneurs seem immune to this and therefore are successful. This is not true. They are often afraid but act anyway. This courage is the basis of all great deeds.

Does this resonate with you? I’m curious, what’s your story? Your 4 Rs? Do you believe in your own thrival?

The post The 4 Rs appeared first on Focused for Success.

Wilkinson started her new habits in 1998. She exceeded all her expectations and is now completely in control of her life. This is your space to teach others how to do the same. She’s not a control freak but also does not want to be limited by a career that is dependent on decisions others make.

“What changes did she make to transform her life?”, I wondered. Fortunately she Recently published an audiobook describing how she did it. Her book,” the barefoot executive but will quote, has sold very well.

Carrie’s syntax for success follows the “three Rs”, Reminders, routine, and reconditioning. Her 3Rs can be stated in these three simple phrases

“Remember, you only have a short while to make up for the job you just quit.”, She said this to her self constantly.
She did anything that generated income every single day.
She associated adversity with the opportunity to be driven to succeed.

She convinced herself that her actions was the only path to improving her family’s situation. This is the big “why” she used to recondition herself and change her routine. You need to start with why because this gives the emotional drive to go down a new path. Once this feeling is strong enough you will be able to push through any obstacles you encounter. Small successors reinforce your belief that you are succeeding in your endeavors. These two things provide fuel to keep you get a daily routine.

Reconditioning takes many forms, however all successful people have changed how they use their time. Time is your most valuable asset, every successful person feels this all the way to their core and are conscious in every waking moment of how to spend it wisely. In her case she had two children to take care of full-time and pursue self-employment so she could stay at home to take care of her family. This required developing a discipline and routine to be successful at both responsibilities. Being self-employed and working at home she is able to use her time in a very flexible manner.

I highly recommend reading or listening to her book and following the exercises she has so carefully crafted.

Using Carrie as an example what is your “big why” and three phrases?

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These circumstances were interesting at first, but quickly escalated into the desire to divorce myself from the madness. Unwilling to give up a perfectly good career, I decided to embrace the madness and immunize myself.

I paid attention to others who were apparently immune. Some were well respected capable people, others were just the opposite. Confused by this, I looked for other clues.

I noticed that people who used a scientific approach to their work had predictable moods. They were mostly somber yet reliable. They produced high quality work consistently but were easily overwhelmed. Others took an artistic approach to their work. They were happier but less reliable. They produced work inconsistently with varying quality. Since innovation is necessary to produce new products a mixture of both types of people are necessary, managing both types of people to product a consistent result appeared to be an art form. I longed for a better way.

In managing my own affairs, I noticed long ago that visualizing what I want, doing some brainstorming THEN starting work produces a better result. I also learned that efficiency came from mastering basic skills and applying them in a specific order. This encouraged me to find the right syntax (order) for anything I did. Using this method, I was able to make my life more deterministic and attract more positive people who trusted my work.

This worked well, until someone tried to take advantage of the situation. The more capable I became the more work I attracted. Others did less, I did more. Again, I longed for a better way.

I was not alone. Many people were trying to get control of their lives in the ever increasing complexities of technology driven work. Groups formed. Methods were developed. Disciples were born. Extreme Programming, Agile Methods, Scrum were just a few. Many of these methods were cumbersome. All of them had merits, none of them, except the Personal Software Process (PSP) had proven results.

In parallel with this, the same trend was developing in executive management methods. The famous Getting Things Done (GTD) method became popular and was adopted by some technologists. Others adopted Agile Methods, which took hold mainly because it could be used to manage a team vs. relying on the team members improving personal management skills. Nobody survived agile methods without having effective personal management skills. In teams where these skills did not develop, agile methods failed.

I noticed that people who used GTD were able to manage their own affairs well and hence apply any method du jour. They were able to perform executive management functions well, even in non-managment roles. I set out to learn GTD.

Everyone who tries to learn GTD is overwhelmed by it initially. People who stick with it learn how to limit their responsibilities and therefore overcome this barrier. They also learn how to align their daily work with whatever they wish to accomplish in life. The resulting focus reduces stress, redefines success to be personal and make accomplishment easy.

Although the GTD method is very effective, it is not easy to get into the habit of using it. Almost everyone tries it, stops and tries again later. Many take 5-10 years to get comfortable enough with it to use it regularly. I felt there must be a better way.

I studied the field of reinvention, which employs the same methods and the background material, which is focused on helping you discover “whatever you wish to accomplish in life”. These methods are well developed and but have the same issues that make GTD difficult to learn and apply.

Learning GTD from a book is daunting. Learning GTD by working with a coach is a completely different experience. A coach helps you take one step at a time AND master the basics. This is where I come full circle. The mechanics of GTD define a standard syntax I mentioned above. The GTD method of collecting, processing and organizing projects, tasks and information using a specific syntax is very powerful. It just requires getting into the habit of doing it, then you can master it.

This is where Tiny Tasks come in.

Establishing a new habit is hard. Breaking an old habit is also hard. Regardless, we are always doing something out of habit. Habits we are aware of can be leveraged. Attaching an additional small habit to an existing habits makes it possible to develop new habits, on purpose that are of your design and, hopefully, beneficial.

Tiny Tasks are the little things that bootstrap a flurry of activity. We all have many big things to do, that go undone because they are big. They take a lot of energy to get done. On the surface this is daunting enough to prevent even starting. When faced with many of these things, everyone tends to pick the easiest thing to do first with the intention of do the bigger stuff later.

Tiny Tasks can be created from anything you want to get done, the operative word is want. When you want to do something, you will get it done, basically because you know the outcome has benefit and therefore produces pleasure.

GTD attempts to do the same thing, except the process diagram is difficult to internalize. It also requires you to use paper or adapt other tools to make it work for you. To address these issues, Tiny Tasks collects information from you in a specific manner, resulting in clear and concise areas of focus and tasks. It also shows you where you are spending effort and how much you are getting done, providing positive and negative feedback.

The method is simple, easily accomplished using a smartphone or tablet. See my other posts to learn more about it.

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First, create a context file – which is just a place to start. I start with three lists: Quick, Home, Work. You will then be prompted to list Areas of Focus.

Next, enter big and little things that are on your mind, attracting focus and attention. Simple short, even incomplete titles are best. As you do this, enter a short phrase it into at context as they come to mind. In this case you will have at least 3 contexts at the end: Quick, Home and Work, feel free to create more.

Done. Lets keep going. Review your contexts, tap Menu/Summary to see the context nicely formatted. Which one is best to delve into now?

Tap on any area of focus that catches your eye open up the tasks tab. List the tiniest tasks you can thing of to start on the area of focus. Use tiny, tiny, tiny tasks. The item is just a reminder, flesh it out later. For instance, if you are meeting someone after work, but don’t know when or where, enter the task like this:
Meeting tonight?
+Fred, where and when do you want to meet?

The Area of Focus is Meeting tonight? the task is Fred, where and when do you want to meet?

Do the same across all various contexts, areas of focus and task tabs for a while, until you get the urge to do something.

Pick a task and tap on it to create a check mark. Do it. Then tap the Menu button on the task tab. Tap Close if you are done, tap Log if you want want to keep the task on your list. This is useful for recording workouts for instance.

Maybe you just need to send an email. Tap and hold on an Area of Focus then release. This “long press” will format an email, ready to send. A huge time saver!

Each Area of Focus is shown with the number of tasks underneath it in black, yellow or green text. When you’ve started a task, the area of of focus is yellow, when all tasks are marked done or logged it is shown in green.

I recommend creating a Done Area of Focus. Then go to the Logs tab, press Menu then Squish. All the selected tasks move to the Done Area of Focus.

I also recommend uploading your context files to Dropbox then Delete the file context files from your device.

As you go about your day, you will read email, get phone calls, talk to people and even do tasks. Each activity will generate a new commitment or reveal that you’ve completed something. It may also reveal a few more tiny tasks. Use Tiny Tasks to record all of these things in the moment, then continue whatever you are doing. When you take a break from working and review your Tiny Tasks its easy to check off tasks you’ve things done. This gives a sense of accomplishment. It’s also easy to add more tiny tasks to flesh things out.

As things progress, you will likely have similarContexts, Areas of Focus andTasks defined in multiple places. This will occur especially if your worried, confused or procrastinating about anything. This redundancy means you have committed to do something important but don’t have a clear plan defined to get it done. Use the Promote,Demote,Copy andPaste functions to reorganize your Tiny Tasks.

To get a big picture, tap Menu, then Summary. A summary of the current context is displayed. You can send it to someone (or yourself) via email or store it on Dropbox. This helps when you have a lot of stuff to reorganize.

When you have a lot of lists that are redundant you’ll want to do a major reorganization. This is where the Summary and Import features come in handy.

First, visit each Context and display the Summary. Use the Send Email or Save to Dropbox feature. This creates files you can print or look at in a browser on your computer.

The saved files are stored In your Dropbox under the Apps/TinyTasks folder or in your email Inbox. Next, using TextEdit or Notepad on a PC, create a new file. Organize your tasks. Enter a “+” in front of each Area of Focus. For instance, you might have “Finish project by Friday”, “Find review notes about project X” and “Work on project TODAY” in various places. Obviously you need a plan. Enter this as:

+Finish Project X
Review objective
Collect notes
Review notes
Create a new file in project folder

Save the file in ProjectX.txt in your Apps/TinyTasks folder. Create a new Context or open an existing one. Tap Menu then Import, ProjectX will be listed. Tap to select it, then Import it. The tasks are all laid out, making it easy to get them done.

The post Using Tiny Tasks for Getting Things Done appeared first on Focused for Success.

We are also wired to avoid pain, more so than seeking pleasure. Deriving pleasure from avoiding pain is the ultimate trap. We all get stuck there. The symptoms are… complaining and avoidance. The ingredients of procrastination.

You might be experiencing some symptoms now. Non productive activities such as web surfing, TV, game playing are all avoidance. The habit is hard break until you decide to experience a little discomfort for a short while to break the pattern.

Ironically, getting stuck in one of these three states is the result of three things that happen in circle:

• Reminders
• Routines
• Conditioning

Self talk is the ultimate reminder that drives routine. Routine conditions you, creating a groove of comfort that can get you stuck.

You can choose to live in a state of pleasure derived from success by just by using reminders. This supports your actions with routines and conditions you to feel good all the time. It just takes one step, reconditioning. The syntax of success is to decide on an outcome and follow the “three R’s”:

• Reminders
• Routines
• Conditioning

It’s the same syntax but with a directed goal. This puts you be on an a even keel (content) or upward spiral (happy and excited) all the time.

Reconditioning requires “getting out of your head”. This is hard to do without help. A friend can help, but nobody can be there for you all the time. Besides, relying on someone else means you are not taking full responsibility for your commitment to get where you want to go.

I’ve created TinyTasks as a way to help you recondition yourself using the comforting activity of tapping on your favorite thing, your iPhone or iPad. The TinyTasks platform is designed to collect all of your reminders very efficiently. This gets stuff out of your head, so you can use your head for something productive and pleasurable.

This is step one, keep all your reminders in one place and out if your head.

When your mind is free, you’ll get a burst of energy and satisfaction. You’ll want to do something else that feels good. Getting organized is a good next step. Creating a list, checking things off and closing things out also creates energy.

If you use TinyTasks, the Demote and Promote features work best for getting organized. Just thinking in terms of contexts, areas of focus and tasks is helpful. Use the Log and Close features to support routines and feel success. The Summary Report is a great to see it all nicely organized. Use the Reminders feature and let TinyTasks remember when to do things.

Getting into this routine is the second step.

Once you are doing these two things consistently, you’ve reached a level of conditioning that will be hard to break.

Going forward I will take the “three Rs” and show how to use them. If you choose to use TinyTasks, you’ll have a great platform to develop your own syntax for success.

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Click here to download: http://tinyurl.com/TinyTasksPro

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