I started using my timeline system way before I stumbled upon WorkFlowy – which was over a decade ago... and to be honest, it never struck me as anything special. I mean, I wasn't doing anything groundbreaking or novel. I hadn't reinvented the wheel or anything. I've showcased my system over the years through blog posts, screencasts and my first two WorkFlowy books... but have always been puzzled as to why relatively few people have implemented my timeline system. I often catch a glimpse of many of my ideas in the outlines of WorkFlowy users near and far—and it's satisfying to know that people have found certain ideas useful—but, once again, few people have taken to using some sort of a calendar or timeline in WorkFlowy.
I had always assumed that all the other methods people were using to organize their life's happenings, did the trick for them just as effectively as my system was working for me. So I didn't feel the need to push my specific system – but rather, encouraged folks to poach whatever useful ideas they could from me and build their own tailor-made system... a mashup of their productivity knowledge.
After a great deal of coaching with many smart and proficient WorkFlowy users—who have every imaginable setup and system going—I've found that those who had the least friction and upkeep in the running of their systems, invariably had some type of a time-based system going... and the degree to which their structures centered around a time-based concept, determined how simple or (needlessly) complex their systems became – many folk needing a separate checklist to not forget all the steps involved in maintaining their setup.
When I started promoting my timeline system with fantastical claims, most people who signed up for coaching sessions with me wanted to know more about these things I was asserting – whether it was truly possible to have a system that made it impossible for things to fall through the cracks... or eliminated an inbox or lengthy weekly planning sessions... and even dramatically decreased task overwhelm and anxiety. And to their surprise, they found these "tall tales" and "exaggerated claims" to be true accounts – along with so many other plusses they were not bargaining for. Not only was what I was coaching them on, all at once recognizable and intuitive, and had a ring of logic to it... but after having gone all in with my system, it was a matter of a day or two before they were experiencing the organizational and psychological benefits of the timeline system they were now immersed in. I'd also like this to be true for you. I'd like that a lot. And to follow, these pages give a show and tell that will describe what I've been coaching WorkFlowy users on.
The core of my system has not changed over the years. What has happened are a couple of things: my system has become more streamlined, my timeline has incorporated more and more into it… and things have become simpler as opposed to more complex. Any additions or tweaks to my system have made life easier, by cutting down on unnecessary admin and mental overhead. It must tend towards minimalism… and it must be an intuitive, self-regulating system.
Something to hang your hat on
The reason I haven't jumped from one productivity method or system to another over the years—and why I've stuck to a timeline—can perhaps be encapsulated in the following thoughts:
There are many ways under the sun to set up one's task-management system. There's always something new. Many systems are simply a repackaging of what's come before. And once in a while you come across something authentically new and exciting, which is worth pursuing and baking into your existing system – or even restructuring your entire system to implement. And so it goes along our productivity journey: we come across new and convincing ideas, and wonder whether we might have finally come to the end of our pilgrimage… whether we've found the one system that will bring everything together, seamlessly and effortlessly.
I've come across a fair number of WorkFlowy users who swear they've arrived… but at the same time, they lament how much upkeep and admin their smart, complex systems require.
Now a case for the timeline system…
It would be great to build one's system on something unchanging, immovable, immutable. Ironically, time (or the timeline) is none of these: it is always changing and constantly moving along. Time waits for no man or woman… or wombat or fruit bat. It's the one thing we can be guaranteed will change. You can hang your hat on that. But more significantly, time is universal… we're all subject to it. We're locked in this dance with time: we can either waltz our way through it, or we can trip and stumble along as we make it from one day to the next. One thing is for sure – you cannot stay put in the past… you're coming along for the ride. Yesterday came and went and there's nothing we could do to prevent it.
Time has its own rhythms and cycles. The things we do in life occur within these cycles of hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries and… well, we'll stop there. There's no point in mentioning millennia and personal productivity in the same breath – unless you have progeny or protégés who will continue on with your personal endeavors. I digress.
So I figure that if we can line up our productivity systems with something universal… something that approximates the timeline of our lives – we're guaranteed to find alignment. Simple. Now let's look at another thought…
Think with me for a tad bit…
I'm definitely interested in taking new and interesting productivity and organizational techniques for a spin. The same is highly likely true for you. Now, how do we do this, and at the same time keep our main setup intact? How to we keep our primary modus operandi from getting messy as we try to implement new ideas and systems? There are so many to choose from – so which of them becomes the overarching organizational structure?
Do we set up the bigger picture—our bird's-eye view—according to GTD or PARA? And how can we squeeze in Personal Kanban and a handful of prioritization techniques?… and then finally get to schedule things? – or at the very least, create a to-do list of things to focus on today?
Here's the trick:
It's infinitely easier to bring together a mashup of organizational methods when you organize according to time… than when you organize by some other method and then try to cram in (or squeeze out) time/ scheduling – along with additional methods. More to be illustrated in the rest of this book.
When you organize everything according to time, you get to have it all. Time is universal… and scheduling happens to be one of those essential things we ultimately cannot get away from. So if we organize according to a timeline, we can be sure that there is no way that our system can become outdated. It's an excellent default. An organizational timeline system is an age-old, tried and tested dynamic. Going with something timeless is a good bet.
One of the incredible and unexpected benefits of organizing your productivity system along a timeline, is that you get to incorporate all other organizational methods with no fuss at all.
The timeline is more concerned about when something is going to get done or seen, as opposed to how it gets categorized. In plotting all of life's happenings on a timeline, you get to line your doing and productivity up with life itself – and as a side effect, most of one's organizational dilemmas are dispensed with.
Now, along your timeline, there will be ample opportunity to go to town with nested categories or Kanban-like stages within projects… or within consolidated forward logs ». So none of your hard-fought productivity knowledge or your painstakingly-organized categories that you've put so much work into – none of that will go to waste. You've done all the hard work already. And once you understand the heart of this system, you'll be able to adapt your whole system to a timeline system—with the help of a minimalist template—within 30 minutes or less… and then any adjustments that need to be done thereafter, have a time and a place of your choosing, on your timeline.
The more you and I line up our life's tasks on a timeline, the more we're going to be lining up with reality. This may sound like a starkly obvious thing to say… but we don't do this as much as we think. We don't think and operate and plan and organize along a timeline – not nearly as much as we could. Even for those of us who already operate within a timeline framework, there's so much more to be taken advantage of. And I hope to draw you in a lot more through these digital pages. I'm hoping the reasons will be convincing enough.
There are bucketfuls of organizational and psychological benefits to operating on a timeline. We're going to go into the practical details in the chapters ahead. Suffice to say that there are many unexpected plusses that one can squeeze out of this system. Significant plusses. Plusses you won't want to let go of once you understand them.
There's layer upon layer of psychology and productivity 101 up for grabs – some of it seen, some of it unseen. It's particularly the unseen rhymes and reasons behind any method that solidify and make it make more sense. Once we discover and understand these hidden dynamics, we begin to appreciate and trust our system that much more… and we know it can handle anything and everything we throw at it. And once we're sold on an idea, we're all in. Let's see if we can get you to go all in.
Magical moments →Workflowy is a minimalist note taking app that helps you organize your life. Simple enough to hold your grocery list, powerful enough to hold your entire life.
by Frank Degenaar