A simple productivity hack that makes To-Do lists tremble in fear
So you need to get more done, do you?
You’ve got a grocery list of To-Dos that keeps getting longer and longer?
A fat stack of need-to-get-dones that’s… uh… never gettin’ done?
I feel your pain.
That sweet, sweet taste of procrastination can really be intoxicating.
But alas, you can’t put everything off forever.
Eventually, it’ll bite you in the gluteus assimus if you don’t get it done.
Or even worse… your uncompleted tasks could get lost in the ether of space and left as nagging open-loops in the back of you mind forever.
#NotGood
Luckily for you, your ol’ pal Dan Manifest has a productivity trick that’ll have you hacking away at your To-Dos faster than an experienced Nat Geo explorer making his way through the Amazon Rainforest.
Care to know more about it? Fabulous, let’s get cookin.
Okay, so here’s what you need to do.
First of all, this works best if it’s done before you go to bed.
And what you’re going to do is, you’re going to make a list of the six most important tasks you need to complete tomorrow.
Then, you’re going to look at your list and reorder your tasks from one to six — with one being the most important task.
Still with me? Great.
Now put your list away and get some rest.
When you wake up in the morning, and you’re done getting ready for the day — and finished with your morning routine ;) — pull out your list and get to work.
Look at item #1 and work at it assiduously until it’s completed. Don’t start working on anything else. Focus on this one task (and this one task only) until it’s done.
When it’s complete, move on to task #2.
And then task # 3, and so on.
If you don’t get through them all, don’t worry about it.
The point isn’t to complete everything. The point is to remain focused on your most important tasks until they’re completed. If you get through everything, that’s wonderful. But if you don’t, at least you worked on what was most important.
At the end of your day, sit down and prepare another list.
You might carry over some tasks you weren’t able to complete from today, or you might not. Every day is unique and requires something different from us — and that’s why you should take the time to reexamine your priorities daily.
If you can’t complete all your tasks using this method, there’s absolutely no way you were going to complete them before.
However, if you start using this productivity hack today, I suspect you’ll be slashing items off your To-Do list faster than you ever have before.
Halt right there!
If you enjoyed this daily musing, would you mind holding down that 👏 button below? You can clap more than once, ya know… 😉
