Newbie question about punch cards

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kikikitana
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Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:49 am

Newbie question about punch cards

Post by kikikitana » Fri Apr 18, 2008 2:29 am

I'm new here and this is my 4th day doing No-S. While perusing the forum to read more about No-S, I found the podcasts transcriptions and read them with great interest. I am particularly giving consideration to the punch card system.

For those of you doing the punch cards with success -- I am hoping you will share more about the process you use to create them, such as when you fill them out, how long it takes, and how you decide what to put on them. Do you block out time every day to create one for the next day or have some other technique for making sure you make one? What works best for you?

Also, how do you integrate your calendar and reminder systems with punch cards? Is part of your process for writing a punch card to consult the calendar for the next day/week/month and transcribe appts/reminders/birthdays/etc? Do you ever fill out a card for a future date with reminders of tasks you know you will need to do in the future? Or do you keep that sort of thing on a calendar and wait to transcribe the task to a card until the night before?

Thanks!

kccc
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Post by kccc » Fri Apr 18, 2008 3:41 pm

I usually write mine in the morning, but I do check my calendar first. I still use a calendar, and an overall to-do list by project.

Sometimes I write my cards in two stages - home stuff in the morning, as I'm doing my journal, work stuff at work.

My work is very project-oriented, so I review all my projects once a week and make a "this week" list. My daily tasks often come from there - or additions, if I get my daily tasks done. I also have a list of morning and evening tasks at home on a bulletin board, which get put on my card just as "AM routine" and "PM routine." (I don't necessarily do all the tasks, but I make sure they're done.) So, I use and reference context-specific work/home lists. My card brings them together in my day.

I use the back of my card for "stuff I need to remember to do later" until I can put it on my calendar (f date-specific) or move it to the front of my card (if not).

Hope that helps. Everyone does things a little differently, and you'll find what works for you.

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Tue Apr 22, 2008 1:28 pm

I don't fill fill out partial cards for the future -- although that might not be a bad idea. I currently just use google calendar, and copy the task to my daily punch card when the day comes. It works pretty well. I haven't really had a problem with missing future appointments, etc. For future tasks or projects that don't have a precise date associated with them, I write them down on my "big picture."

I start my punchcard every day in the morning, and add tasks throughout the day. On weekdays, I have 9 "routine" tasks that I fill in immediately (there's a 10th optional, opportunistic "routine" task that I tack on the end if I have time -- I have these memorized, but to make them more authoritative I list them on my "big picture" as well). For "work" and "errand" I number 7 rows (the minimum I have to get done to give myself a "star" for the day and a habitcal green). Then I fill in the really obvious stuff I know I have to (and can) get done. Usually this is only about 3 or 4 items. The rest (at least seven, but often 10 or even more) I add throughout the day. If there's a task that I'm confused about or unsure I can complete, I write it on the back of the card -- that way I haven't committed to it but won't forget it either. If I get greater clarity or confidence about it during the day, I transfer it to the front (or move it to my big picture, or discard it entirely, as appropriate). I think that not committing to more than you can realistically do is key to making the punch cards work -- and tracking your success at knocking off all your daily todos on the habitcal can be another helpful way of getting this habit down. It's hugely satisfying to get all your todos done every day -- and you also turn "success" itself, your ability to follow through on whatever you decided to do, into a habit. This is hugely powerful, perhaps more so than any other single habit (and also, as my own habitcal shows, somewhat harder to nail down). So if you find that you're having trouble following through on all your daily todos -- step one is to commit to less. Still having trouble? Reduce the number of tasks even more, until you get the point where you can comfortably and consistently knock them all off. Then you can start raising the number again -- but back off as soon as you run into trouble. Priority one is to set yourself up for success, to build that critical habit of success. You might not, therefore, get quite as much done initially (or ever) as you'd like, but in time, you will become astonishingly more productive, acquire a good, realistic sense as to what your limits and capabilities are, and come to terms with these limits and capabilities. You'll get more done and feel better about what you can't get done.

Sometimes I'll start filling in the next days card the night before, if I've got something particularly important or that I'm afraid I'll forget. But this is unusual. Usually I'll just make a note on the back of the previous day's card (prefaced with "REM," in homage to the obsolete programming languages which provided the punch card metaphor), which I always consult when preparing the new one.

As for what makes a good individual task, that can take some trial and error. I've found two general principles helpful: keep them small and specific, or big and vague. No individual task should take more than half an hour to knock off, in some sense. Small and specific tasks obviously work well for this -- plus you get to cross a lot of them off, which is gives you a great feeling of productivity (nice in itself, and also spurs you on to greater productivity). Big and vague is less desirable, but better than big and specific, which might commit you to something impossible. Keeping big things vague (if you can't break them into smaller specifics, which is probably better) lets you cross off the task if you somehow, however incompletely, address it during the day. You still succeed, even if you don't quite finish. Sometimes I start with a vague task, like the name of a huge project, to mentally budget for the fact that I have to do something on this project during the day, though I'm not quite sure what yet. Then, when I get greater clarity, I'll add a colon and make it more specific.

Example:

Initial Task: Argo (the name of a program I'm working on)

Modified task: Argo: fix track table bug in combo mode

I never remove tasks once I've written them down (orders must be followed!). But I do let myself add or modify orders (though only be adding words, never by removing). This gives a good balance between flexibility and discipline.

Hope something here helps -- and keep us posted. I'm sure you'll come up with useful insights from your own experience if you wind up doing this for a while.

Reinhard

kikikitana
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Post by kikikitana » Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:13 am

Thank you both for your responses. They are enormously helpful.

I have been doing punch cards for 5 days now. Yesterday was the first day I totally blew it -- my evening didn't turn out at all like I planned it, but it was something outside my control, oh well. All in all, I am pleased with how it is going so far.

For now, I am keeping my work life out of the punch cards and using them for my personal tasks only.

I am focusing only on daily tasks so far (I will start tackling the monthly and maybe yearly projects once I master the dailies).

This week I planned out the whole week in advance. I created seven cards on the night before day 1. Each subsequent night I have been reviewing the tasks for the upcoming day to make sure they are still in alignment and to remind me of what's ahead. I took the weekly approach primarily because I didn't think I would be disciplined enough to spend time every day planning. I also realized I have several goals that occur multiple times per week (but less often than daily). For example, I have a goal of exercising at least 3 times per week. I put it on my MWF cards just to get it in the schedule, but if something happens such that a Friday workout doesn't "work out", I can schedule it for Sat instead and still meet my weekly goal.

I also love the Just-One-Thing suggestion (I think KCCC suggested it in a different thread). My basement is a total cluttered mess. Every time I go down to the basement to get a start on cleaning it, I give up in frustration because it is so overwhelming. So I created a daily task "Basement JOT" to force myself to do something, no matter how small. It feels good to be able to make a dent in that project, even if it is a teeny tiny one!

In the past I have gone through several unsuccessful attempts to do schedule planning, but I have always gravitated to a method involving a computer or other electronic device. The card is so much more immediate and convenient and, therefore, doable for me. It is so easy to pull the card and pen out of the front pocket instead of firing up the computer or pda, clicking through layers of menus and adding a note with a clunky interface or stylus. There's nothing like good old pen and paper! Imagine that!

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