May 16, 2025 • 4 mins
Don't automatically migrate that task to the next day
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to ask yourself whether you could finish a
task before moving it to the next day's to do list.
(00:24):
Don't take it for granted that unfinished tasks will get
migrated from one day to the next. Pause to consider
whether you could just get the tasks done. Longtime listeners
have probably heard me recommend seeing a to do list
as a contract with yourself. I see putting a task
(00:47):
on a to do list as a promise that you
will complete the task that day. For people who don't
take that perspective, though, I would suggest at least being
a little slower to migrate a task from one days
to do list to the next. When you review your
to do list at the end of the day, Before
(01:09):
you migrate lots of tasks to future days, consider what
you could actually just get done. Could you finish? Maybe
you needed to send personalized invitations to twenty five people
for an event your organization is hosting. You have sent
invitations to fifteen of them. When your alarm rings to
(01:29):
tell you it is time to start dinner, could you
take your laptop down to the kitchen from your home
office and knock out the last ten invitations while you
are waiting for the water to boil. Then you don't
have to push this task to the next day. Or
you might have intended to go to the dry cleaner
on your way to work after taking your kids to daycare,
(01:52):
but you skipped it because you wanted some desk time
before your first meeting. Could you drop off your dry
cleaning on the way home from picking up your kids
in the afternoon, then you don't need to kick it
forward another day. Perhaps a task isn't time consuming, it
is just unpleasant and that is why you haven't done it.
(02:17):
Could you simply resolve to hit send on the difficult
email before you leave for the day. How great will
that feel to not have it hanging over your head.
For a task that is time consuming, perhaps half hour
after your kids go to bed might give you the
time to finish it. A relatively short second shift could
(02:40):
be worth it. It can be easy to keep migrating
a task day after day from one to do list
to the next, But if the task wouldn't take that
long in the first place, then migrating it is probably
not necessary. If you get into the habit of asking
yourself whether you could finish, I think few things will happen. First,
(03:02):
you will get more done because you won't concede defeat
too early. Often the answer will be yes, I could
get that done today. Second, your to do list will
get shorter because tasks will get done instead of constantly accumulating.
And finally, and perhaps most importantly, you may be more
(03:25):
productive during the core part of the day If you
start to expect yourself to finish what you set out
to do. Asking whether you can finish can help you
find the middle ground between feeling pressure to complete all
the tasks on a day's to do list come what may,
and just feeling that you do what you do and
you don't do what you don't do. Asking whether you
(03:49):
can finish means you just might finish, and that can
be great to see. In the meantime, this is Laura,
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
(04:15):
got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
(04:37):
your favorite shows.
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to ask yourself whether you could finish a
task before moving it to the next day's to do list.
(00:24):
Don't take it for granted that unfinished tasks will get
migrated from one day to the next. Pause to consider
whether you could just get the tasks done. Longtime listeners
have probably heard me recommend seeing a to do list
as a contract with yourself. I see putting a task
(00:47):
on a to do list as a promise that you
will complete the task that day. For people who don't
take that perspective, though, I would suggest at least being
a little slower to migrate a task from one days
to do list to the next. When you review your
to do list at the end of the day, Before
(01:09):
you migrate lots of tasks to future days, consider what
you could actually just get done. Could you finish? Maybe
you needed to send personalized invitations to twenty five people
for an event your organization is hosting. You have sent
invitations to fifteen of them. When your alarm rings to
(01:29):
tell you it is time to start dinner, could you
take your laptop down to the kitchen from your home
office and knock out the last ten invitations while you
are waiting for the water to boil. Then you don't
have to push this task to the next day. Or
you might have intended to go to the dry cleaner
on your way to work after taking your kids to daycare,
(01:52):
but you skipped it because you wanted some desk time
before your first meeting. Could you drop off your dry
cleaning on the way home from picking up your kids
in the afternoon, then you don't need to kick it
forward another day. Perhaps a task isn't time consuming, it
is just unpleasant and that is why you haven't done it.
(02:17):
Could you simply resolve to hit send on the difficult
email before you leave for the day. How great will
that feel to not have it hanging over your head.
For a task that is time consuming, perhaps half hour
after your kids go to bed might give you the
time to finish it. A relatively short second shift could
(02:40):
be worth it. It can be easy to keep migrating
a task day after day from one to do list
to the next, But if the task wouldn't take that
long in the first place, then migrating it is probably
not necessary. If you get into the habit of asking
yourself whether you could finish, I think few things will happen. First,
(03:02):
you will get more done because you won't concede defeat
too early. Often the answer will be yes, I could
get that done today. Second, your to do list will
get shorter because tasks will get done instead of constantly accumulating.
And finally, and perhaps most importantly, you may be more
(03:25):
productive during the core part of the day If you
start to expect yourself to finish what you set out
to do. Asking whether you can finish can help you
find the middle ground between feeling pressure to complete all
the tasks on a day's to do list come what may,
and just feeling that you do what you do and
you don't do what you don't do. Asking whether you
(03:49):
can finish means you just might finish, and that can
be great to see. In the meantime, this is Laura,
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
(04:15):
got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
(04:37):
your favorite shows.