Limit your to-do list

How to feel less busy while getting more done

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
the podcast where we talk strategies for thriving in the
new world of work, one where location and ours are
more flexible than in the past. Today's tip is too
strictly limit your to do list. This is the secret
for both feeling less busy and getting more done. For

(00:28):
those new to remote work, you may assume you'll now
have time to do everything that got put off before.
With no drop by meetings from chatty co workers and
no commute it may feel like time will be abundant,
and certainly there may be options for deeper work. But
if you've got kids underfoot and are sharing caregiving responsibilities
with your partner, you may have less time available than

(00:50):
you might have thought. And for everyone, meetings don't automatically
become more efficient or better organized just because they move
to video platforms. What all this means is that you're
much better off creating a very short to do list.
Unhappiness stems from a mismatch between expectations and reality. If

(01:10):
we can't always change reality, we're better off changing our expectations.
Here's how this can play out each evening. As you're
powering down for the day. Look at tomorrow's schedule. Become
familiar with what David Allen calls the hard landscape, that is,
appointments you've set at specific times. Think through what hours

(01:31):
you plan to work, taking into account any agreements you've
made with the rest of your family. So if you're
working from seven a m. To noon, and then whatever
time you can get during naptime, or if you're working
from nine to five, sort of normal hours, see what
time is still available around the appointments. Then set a
few priorities for the day. I recommend holding this list

(01:52):
to somewhere between three to five things. No, this is
not all you have going on in the world, but
what is most important for you to pumplished today? If
nothing else happened, what three to five things would make
you feel like the day was a success. This exercise
has a few benefits. First, it forces prioritization. When everything

(02:14):
is important, nothing is important. A short to do list
forces you to think through what truly matters. Feel free
to create a different list of everything that is on
your mind, but today's priority list should focus on what
matters today. Second, it leaves space for stuff to come up.
There are people who say day after day, well I'm

(02:34):
meant to do this, but stuff came up. Well, of
course stuff comes up. This is the nature of life.
You can't know at nine am everything that will develop
by five pm, but you can leave open time so
you can deal with it. Trust me, you won't be
twiddling your thumbs. Finally, a short list can make you
feel incredibly productive. Progress is motivational. When you put three

(02:57):
things on a to do list, you are highly likely
to actually do them. Indeed, you can start holding yourself
accountable to your list in a way that you just
can't with a longer list. Putting something on your to
do list becomes a contract with yourself. You become the
architect of your days. And while yes, three things a

(03:17):
day doesn't sound like much, if they're all important, these
steps do add up. Three important things day is fifteen
things a week. That's about set important things per year,
which sounds pretty good to me. So rather than making
a twenty item to do list, getting through five of
them and feeling like a failure, how about making a

(03:38):
five item list and doing all of them. You'll feel
on top of the world in the meantime. This is Laura,
Thanks for listening and here's the succeeding in the New
Corner Office. The New Corner Office is a production of
I Heart Radio. For more podcasts, visit the i Heart

(03:59):
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