As you know from listening to my podcast, I keep my TO DO list on paper. It keeps me honest about keeping it a reasonable length, and ruthless pruning items that I’m never going to do.
But even so, my list has far more items on it than I can do in any given day. So each day, I only accomplish part of what’s on the list. Usually, my intention is set by looking over the list and choosing 3-5 “must do” things. My actual accomplishments, however, end up being a complicated mix of those “must do” things (sometimes none of them, sigh) and dealing with stuff that pops up during the day.
For example, the other day, I was planning on recording a CD product in a marathon 8-hour recording session. This was my first such session and I simply didn’t know that my voice and energy levels are only good for around 2-3 hours. So now, the recording is spilling into additional days, displacing other stuff I’d planned to do.
How do you decide what to do each day? Does your method work for you?
11 responses so far ↓
1 Barbara // Jul 7, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Well, I usually plan to do the things that will cost me the most pain if I don’t do them.
Does it work? Well, yes and no. Yes, I get things done. No, because I feel pretty negative about the whole list all day.
2 John Lusher // Jul 7, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Stever,
First of all, I think you have a great podcast and I have learned a lot from listening. Okay, enough sucking up.
I use a combination of paper and online (Ta Da List) methods for my to do items. Like you, I sometimes struggle with which ones get done versus which ones get pushed to another day.
Normally, I use the “what will make me the most money” or which is most important to the other person method. Sure, I need to make money, but how important is the to do item to the other person involved? If they are a vital part of my referral network, I make sure it gets done.
This is not a fool proof plan, but it helps me with my list.
John Lusher
3 Rob Kendrick // Jul 7, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Hey Stever,
I’m getting back into the habit of taking notes at night while feeding the dogs. I update a simple todo.txt file on my computer (in Notepad), then use Blat to send items to my cellphone, depending on the tag:
[owh] On the Way Home. Sends items with this tag to my cellphone at 5:00 PM.
[am] Morning tasks. Sends items with this tag to my cellphone at 9:00 AM.
[pm] Evening tasks. I get these at 7:00 - 8:00 PM.
You can also use Outlook Rules to send these whenever you need. Use Blat and a simple script to send; or, if you have a corporate e-mail server, you can use Mailsend from your work machine.
For long-term projects and just general things to remember for later, I stick them on my Tiddlywiki page.
4 Erin B // Jul 7, 2008 at 3:25 pm
First, the items that *must* be done today. Work-wise, that means anything that must publish today or tomorrow comes first. (Hey, even outside the ivory walls it’s publish or perish.)
I try to assign days to reoccurring tasks so that they get done. (It’s Thursday, must be time to balance the checkbook; it’s Friday, must pay bills.)
After that, it might be how much time I have to get something done. If I only have 10 minutes, I might try to make a quick phone call. Or it might be what I feel like doing. Maybe I’d rather do my filing than follow up with the insurance company right now. Or maybe I’d like to edit that early submission rather than start writing my newsletter, which isn’t due for a while yet.
You’ve got to have some flexibility in your to-do list, some choice. Otherwise, like Barbara, you end up feeling negative all day.
5 Jamie // Jul 7, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I have an overarching list of to-do’s and a good sense of my “big picture” agenda. Each day I write on a pad of paper beside my laptop the things I’d like to accomplish that day. How I decide what to do is determined by priority, mood and the rhythm of the day.
By rhythm of the day I mean that each day begins and ends with activities that fit into a natural flow. At the beginning of the day I do “connecting” activities - things that connect me to myself, others and my work. At the end of the day, I do “closure” activities - tidy up my desk, put a final touch on things, update my records.
In between I choose to do the things that would have the most powerful and positive impact on me and my business plus I choose things that are in tune with my mood of the day. Some days are all about planning, designing, writing. Other days are about reaching out, connecting. I try to go with that flow as best I can.
6 Ryan // Jul 7, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I try to set my agenda for the day at the end of the previous day. As I am cleaning up I am in a good place to assess what got done and what didn’t and decide what to do next. I write up a list and leave it on my desk so it is there the next morning.
The other key thing for me is to spend some time once a week to collect all of the projects and tasks I have and make sure I am focusing on the right things at that time. It helps to limit my work during the day or week to 3 or 4 major projects/work areas.
7 Shelley // Jul 7, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I do a weekly ‘to-do’ using a week-at-a-glance calendar. This helps me balance out the work. I put little boxes next to each thing and challenge myself to x things off early. This way I can reward myself with Friday off. Or, if I don’t get stuff done, I have to work on the weekend (boo!)
8 Adam // Jul 7, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Working in a project based environment (web developer) my to do list generally relates to the project in hand.
So I work on the basis that I work on the tasks that will take me the longest first. The bigger tasks are the foundations for the smaller tasks and themselves can often be broken down into more manageable chunks of work.
As well as this I also break them down into logical steps in order of what makes sense (my 2 biggest tasks are the top 2 below), so I wont do task B (my second task below) if there’s no form to collect the data (task a)
Example To do list:
* Develop forms to add events
* Build page to view events
* Add feild to collect users website
* Fix email bug with .co.uk email domains
* Make RSS feed for events
Generally, the “small tasks” are ones that take less than hour. If it takes less than hour I’ll group a few together, finish a big chunk and get to a natural break and then run through the smaller tasks at hand. This means my most product parts of the day (morning) can be done in a focused way on big chunks and the afternoon can be spent working on the smaller stuff.
9 Ulla // Jul 8, 2008 at 2:52 am
I’ve got a DIN 5 Notepad which I carry everywhere. I try to write down everything which has to be remembered, written, done. I put up the list either on the evening before or sitting at breakfast. Every task which is done gets a cross-through, and when all task on one page are done, I make a big cross over the whole page. I’ve also played around with online tools, but writing things on paper seem to work best with me.
10 Kevin Montgomery // Jul 8, 2008 at 6:45 am
I use online tools, things that I can add to by email/SMS. Highrise by 37signals is a favourite of mine at the moment.
I usually prioritize things that I need OTHER people to act on first. That way, they’re getting a task done that I need from them, (hopefully) at the same time I’m getting my other things done. I don’t check these items off, rather I reassign them to the back of the list. More on that later.
Then, I target small odds and sods that get in the way of “big picture” stuff, and zap them.
Then, I pick 1 or 2 larger projects that I want to nudge the ball forward on, maybe even get momentum on it!
At the end of the day, I follow up on other people’s tasks from the morning to see what their progress is, so I can evaluate what needs to happen the next morning.
11 James @ Organize IT // Jul 8, 2008 at 12:18 pm
In simple terms, I strip out as much as possible, then for what I have left I plan the stuff I have to do on particular days and then spread the rest of my work evenly over the rest of the time available. However, it helps a lot that I break my work down so much into bitesize chunks and next actions (as I’ve discussed previously here). I can plan my time better with a bunch of thirty minute tasks rather than entire projects that cover hours.
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