Keep your to-do list short

The secret to happiness is making sure expectations match reality.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to keep your to do list short.
Not only does a short to do list increase the
chances that you make progress toward your goals, you'll feel

(00:23):
a lot better about them too. It probably won't surprise
anyone listening to this that I love to make to
do lists. When I planned my weeks on Friday afternoons,
I set my major goals for the week professionally and personally.
Then each evening I make my to do list for
the next day of what needs to get done by
the time I go to bed. I write down anything

(00:44):
time specific that I've committed to, and then also assign
myself a handful of other tasks informed by my weekly priorities.
Note that word handful, we are talking three to five things.
We are not talking twenty things or fifty things, which
is what I used to do. Here's why I've learned
to keep the list as short as possible. So I

(01:06):
pride myself on being a trustworthy person. I imagine you
do too, and part of being trustworthy is keeping the
promises we make to ourselves. If I put something on
my to do list, I am committing to do it.
I am committing to do it before the day is through.
But wait, people say, what if things come up? Well,

(01:30):
guess what. This is not an if. This is an inevitability.
Because emergencies happen and things go wrong. Things can go
massively right as well, but sometimes that takes time to Consequently,
the only way to guarantee that I will keep my
promise to myself and do the things on my to
do list is to keep my to do list short.

(01:53):
This seems straightforward, but I found over the years that
a lot of people really resist this idea. They'll say
things like, Laura, I have so much going on. I
can't just put three to five things on my to
do list. I have fifty things to do. But guess what,
you won't do fifty things tomorrow. You'll do some of
those things, but were they the things that truly needed
to get done, or maybe they were just the ones

(02:14):
you saw first, or that seemed easiest, or that someone
yelled the loudest about Making a short list forces you
to prioritize. If the day goes great and you get
through that list and have extra time. Awesome, Go find
some other stuff. I'm sure you can come up with
plenty to do. But here's the thing. There is no
virtue in putting something on a to do list and

(02:37):
then not doing it. It's just as not done as
if you never put it on your list at all,
and in fact it's worse than that. If you put
it on your to do list and don't do it,
you feel bad, whereas if you didn't put it on
your list and you didn't do it. Expectations have met reality,
and this is really the secret to happiness. Now. Of course,

(03:01):
we all have more than three to five things that
were responsible for in the universe, so a lot of
people find it helpful to keep running lists of other
things they need to do at some point, but not
right now. Bullet journal fans might make these lists as collections.
Getting things Done author David Allen's readers use his suggestion
of a some day maybe list. I make these speculative

(03:22):
lists from time to time. Two in my planner. These
are house projects I might want to tackle, things to
do with my kids, seasonal activities, future podcast ideas, people
to reach out to, book concepts, whatever. If there's something
I decided to commit to in the future, I'll put
it on my calendar for that day, and then it
will become part of that day's to do list or
list of time specific commitments. But there's no point thinking

(03:45):
about it tomorrow and cluttering up my mental landscape for
tomorrow when I plan to tackle it in two months,
three to five. Things might not seem like much, but
I promise it does add up. In one of my books,
Off the Clock, I tell the story about my friend
Damon Brown, who spent some time as the primary parent
for his young son a few years ago. Because he

(04:07):
was caring for an infant all day, his time was
obviously limited. However, he also had a few professional opportunities
he really wanted to tackle during this time, such as
co founding a company, so he started writing his to
do list for the day on an index card one
side of an index card. If it took up more
than one side of the card. He knew he had

(04:27):
too much on his plate and it wasn't going to
happen around his baby responsibilities. Better to push it into
the future. But after a few months of this, he
looked at his life and realized he was being shockingly
productive three to five well chosen activities per day is
a lot. I mean three per day is fifteen per
work week. That's seven fifty per year. And if they

(04:47):
all matter well, you could probably conquer the world. So today,
look at your to do list with this in mind,
what do you actually intend to do today and what
amounts to a point less expectation that will just make
you feel bad. Choose three to five things you will
truly hold yourself to doing. Assign other things to other times.

(05:12):
Pretty soon you'll be feeling less busy and getting more done.
In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. M Hey everybody,

(05:33):
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod
that's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
podcast at iHeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is

(05:56):
spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I
look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I
Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.