November 2, 2025 • 17 mins
Today, I'm sharing a simple way to study faster by clearing mental clutter and turning a long or disordered to‑do list into a sharp plan for today.
There is surprising power in the right daily task list to boost focus, reduce decisions, and build momentum.
Discover how my all-new "SOCK" method for the perfect daily to-do list can transform your day.
When you start with a list that is Specific, Ordered and Clear, you can Knock it out in no time!
*
Hosted by William Wadsworth, memory psychologist, independent researcher and study skills coach. I help ambitious students to study smarter, not harder, so they can ace their exams with less work and less stress.
BOOK 1:1 COACHING to supercharge your exam success: https://examstudyexpert.com/workwithme/
Get a copy of Outsmart Your Exams, my award-winning exam technique book, at https://geni.us/exams*
*
* As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases on suggested books.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Exam Study Expert Podcast.
I'm your host, psychologist, andstudy strategy coach, William
Wadsworth.
We're deep into a time of yearat the moment, that time of
broadcast, uh deep in thefall/slash autumn, depending on
where you are in the world, whenjust about everyone I know has
their sleeves rolled up and iscracking on with the real work
(00:21):
of the studying.
There's a time in the cycle forresting, there's a time for
planning and preparing, there'sa time for taking the test and
exam that's at the end of itall.
And then there's a time in themiddle for the doing, the
getting on with it.
And this time of year alwaysfeels like peak doing and
getting on with it season to me.
And when there's a lot to do,when there's a lot to get on
with, it can often feel likethere are never quite enough
(00:43):
hours to get everything done.
Or even if you are findingenough hours, asked about, you
might be kind of wondering ifthere's a more efficient way to
get through the studying youneed to accomplish each day,
each week.
So to help you with thatquestion and help you get things
done faster, today we're kickingoff a mini-series of solo
episodes from me with a few toptips on how to study faster.
(01:07):
So, no matter what your studycomprises, how you can get it
done in less time.
Um, we're not going to focus onstrategies for anything
specific.
So we're not allowed, forexample, to talk about um, you
know, memorization strategies tohelp you learn faster because in
this series we're talking aboutsomething that could help with
any form of studying.
Uh, it could be learning, itcould be research, it could be
(01:28):
writing, it could be practicingproblems, whatever.
Uh, any form of studying, whatare some general ideas that can
actually help us get it done uhfaster?
So I'm going to be broadcastingthis series on alternate weeks
uh through this month of uhNovember, our time of broadcast,
uh, and interspersed with ournormal program of guest
interviews and student storiesin the alternate weeks when this
(01:50):
series is not broadcasting.
So the three big ideas we'll belooking at across the series
this month are working fasterthrough keeping a clearer mind.
I'll be diving into that today,working faster by setting
limits, and that's coming up ina couple of weeks' time, and
then working faster throughsharper prioritization.
My goal is to keep eachinstalment pretty short, pretty
(02:11):
bite-sized.
I know I let some of my uh soloepisodes run a little bit long,
and I've done some prettymonster ones uh in the past
earlier this year.
Uh so I want to take a littlebit of a uh a different format
for this series and keep itreally tight, keep it really
short.
Possibly not covering everystrategy or tactic that I could
possibly think of relating tothis idea under the sun, maybe
just focusing on one or two ofthe big ideas, my absolute
favorites, uh, in the interestsof keeping a really tight,
(02:33):
really bite-sized uh andhopefully very practical and
very useful uh installment foryou.
So let's start today with thepower of a clearer mind and how
this can help, surprisingly helpwith uh actually getting your
work done, your studying donefaster.
It's true, your brain, a bitlike a computer, really does run
(02:55):
faster when it's less cluttered.
The analogy is pretty goodactually.
So if you ever used an oldercomputer, you may have noticed
it running more slowly if youever try and run too many
programs all at once.
If you try and do, for example,some video editing or some
gaming, something that's quiteintensive on the kind of the
process of the thinking engine,um, while you've also got a
(03:16):
whole bunch of like browsertabs, for example, open in the
background, the whole computerruns slower, it stutters, it may
even freeze and crash entirely.
It's not too dissimilar towhat's going on in the brain.
So, for those of you familiarwith the idea of working memory,
um, essentially, this is thestore for the stuff you're
thinking about right now, in anyinstance of your life.
(03:40):
And you'll know if you'refamiliar with working memory,
that it's very limited in itscapacity.
In other words, we can only holda relatively limited set of data
or ideas in our mind at any onemoment.
So the more unnecessary mentalclutter we've got, taking up
bandwidth in our working memory,the slower the brain processes
new thinking, and the slower youwill end up working and getting
(04:03):
through any form ofthinking-related task, which is
basically all kinds of studying,you know, every kind of studying
you could think of, whether it'swriting or learning or research,
whatever it is, it's it involvesthinking.
Um, the slower you end upthinking, the more unnecessary
junk you've got sitting aroundcluttering up your working
memory.
If we close down all thoseunnecessary browser tabs in the
(04:24):
background and just run the oneprogram that we want to run, uh
it runs smoother and faster.
And similarly, clearing out theunnecessary mental clutter from
your working memory and yourmind helps your brain think
smoother and faster as a result.
And that means we can getthrough things in less time.
As a bonus, we may even end upbeing able to solve things that
(04:44):
we wouldn't have otherwise beenable to, or possibly have
insights and ideas that a morecluttered mind might not have
had the bandwidth to come upwith.
So there are various things thatcontribute to mental clutter.
We're not going to tackle themall today.
Uh, there's things likerumination, planning ahead, um,
distractions, mind wandering,and more, all of which have
(05:07):
specific tools to address them.
And these are things that I workon with my coaching clients to
help minimize that mentalclutter and help them be as
efficient as possible when theyengage with their work each day.
For today, I want to focus onone big idea that I think is
universally applicable to prettymuch anybody, which is the power
of a really good to-do list.
(05:28):
I think it's the first place I'dwant to start uh when it comes
to reducing our mental clutteras learners, as students, as
scholars.
Having a specific ordered andcomplete to-do list for each day
helps you knock it out easilyand speedily.
Now, ideas often spread furtherwhen they have a catchy acronym.
(05:50):
So I've come up with the acronymSOCK to help you remember this.
Um, that stands for the s seriesof things we want to make a
really good to-do list uh uhfollow.
So SOCK stands for uh this theSOCK of SOC.
The acronym stands for S for uhspecific, O for ordered, C for
(06:11):
clear, and K for knocking itout.
You know what you'll be able todo uh when you've uh got through
your items in the to-do list.
So SOCK SOC.
Yeah, we want to make SOC to-dolists.
Um, I I always like to thinkthat one day I might have an
impact with my various ideas.
So in years to come, uh perhapsI'll look forward to seeing
(06:32):
posters on classrooms andlecture hall walls about making
sock to-do lists and maybe studygrammars, doing nice
infographics to teach theirfollowers about the sock to-do
list.
Uh, no doubt having some kind ofcorny stock sock graphic in the
background.
Try saying that with falseteeth.
Um they may even be kind enoughto link back to this very
podcast as the place the sockto-do list movement got started.
(06:53):
Anyway, uh before I get toocarried away with myself, let's
break down what a sock to-dolist actually is, and you'll see
how useful it could potentiallybe for you.
It's okay, so let's dive in.
The S of SOC stands forspecific.
Your to-do list has to bespecific for today,
specifically.
So capturing everything youintend to do today, nothing
(07:15):
more, nothing less.
That might include a mix ofstudy tasks as well as tasks for
other areas of your life, ifapplicable.
Applications for jobs oruniversities or programs or
internships, life admin, and allthe rest.
As you sit down with a clearpatch of time ahead of you to
work on your stuff, that couldbe at the start of the day in
the morning, that could be atthe start of the evening when
(07:36):
you've got home.
We start to write down, we startby writing down what we are
going to do specifically thatevening or that day.
Nothing more, nothing less.
A particular note I want to makeis that many students, uh,
particularly in at the kind ofschool stage, have planners or
some sort of system throughwhich they receive set
(07:57):
assignments, might be GoogleClassroom or Teams, for example.
That alone is not specific totonight, uh to this evening or
today, because it's gonnainclude things on that system,
that planner, that you're notgonna work on today.
Typically, you're just gonnachoose a subset of whatever
outstanding assignment tasksyou've got on any given day to
work on today.
(08:17):
You can't always cleareverything tonight, so you'd
have to make choices.
What are you going to haveworked on today?
What are you gonna leave tillanother day?
There may also be things thataren't covered by your planner
or your assignment settingsystem.
For example, things like examrevision or ongoing work to
consolidate what you've learnedin class.
Um, or as we've said, there maybe tasks on there that fall
outside of the academic domainthat you also need to make
(08:38):
progress on today.
So your SOC to-do list startswith being S-specific about the
exact things you're doing today.
We choose what those are, wecapture them all, and then we
implicitly say no to the rest.
So we're making a consciouschoice that if it's not on our
list for today, we're not gonnaget to it today.
Sometimes there's a little bitof uncertainty into how much
(08:58):
you'll get done that night.
You're not quite sure how someof those early tasks are gonna
do.
So you might separate your listout into the higher priority
things that you definitely needto do.
Uh, you tackle those first, andthen if you have time, other
ones that you'll get onto if uhtime allows.
Now, just capturing the thingsyou're gonna do tonight, nothing
more, nothing less, is already abig step towards decluttering
(09:18):
the mind.
So many of my students over theyears tell me about how they
find this experience.
They kind of have thisexperience that they they waste
a lot of brain space worryingabout other tasks that they need
to do while they're working onsomething else.
So they're doing you know,beavering away on a set of you
know math problems or mathsproblems or something, uh, and
their brain is nagging themabout also having to do uh an
(09:39):
essay later on, or maybe theyshould be doing the essay now
and they they've chosen to dothe maths, but you know,
actually, maybe they should haveprioritized their essay.
So your brain is kind of naggingyou and it's worrying, oh, have
I made the right choices?
When we do our sock to-do list,it gets rid of all that.
We make a clear choice at thestart of the day or the start of
the evening, you eliminate allthat kind of mental back and
forth of worrying, oh, am Idoing the right thing, have I
prioritized the right thing.
(10:00):
Okay.
So we want to start with aspecific list, and the O stands
for putting it in order ofattack.
So when you come up with yourorder, um, you might like to
group similar tasks together.
For example, if there aremultiple tasks that you'll do on
your laptop, do those together,then you put the laptop away and
switch those to the analog taskswith your just your books.
You may have um higher prioritytasks at the top.
(10:22):
So if you don't quite get toeverything on your list tonight,
you've already done the kind ofthe most urgent things.
You might also choose to putyour more challenging tasks
first.
Um earlier on in the task list,um, that's typically when your
brain is going to be a bitfresher, more alert, and you
save those less taxing tasks,maybe kind of if there's
anything that's a bit more kindof administrative, a bit more
brainless, um, you know, savethose for the end when you're a
(10:44):
bit tired.
Again, when we put our list inorder, we're reducing the brain
space that goes on makingdecisions about what to work on
next.
So we're always super, super umclear about the order we go in.
When you finish one task, youknow what's coming next.
We just need to execute ourplan.
We don't need to worry aboutmaking decisions about our plan
(11:06):
as we go through it.
One little tip here.
If you have a lot of tasks tojuggle today, you may even
choose, you may even find ithelpful, you know, if you've got
like quite a lot of differentthings to get through, then you
may choose to even brainstormyour options in rough and then
transfer the list into a neatorder.
One, two, three, four.
I like my list to be to be veryclearly written out if I'm doing
it on paper, which I probably doabout half the time.
(11:28):
Um I flip between writing mytasks on a piece of A4 paper in
my lined black and red notebook.
Um, or uh sometimes I'll writemy tasks out on separate lines
in Excel.
Um I like the paper because it'skind of clearer and more in my
face, um, but I like the Excelbecause it's a bit more flexible
and I can drag items up and downthe list uh to reorder it a
little bit more easily.
Uh so I tend to do towards theExcel version if there are
(11:50):
perhaps a lot of smaller itemsand perhaps I've got more things
going on in the day.
Um and I tend towards the paperversion if there's maybe just a
simpler list of like three,four, five big things and there
isn't so much detail.
There's less risk I might needto move things around as we go.
So we have our specific tasksthat in the order we'll attack
them.
The final thing we need to do isto make sure our list is clear.
(12:11):
That's the C in our SOC acronym.
So, what does a clear list mean?
Well, a clear list means we canlook at our list and get the
right level of information aboutwhat we actually need to do for
the task.
So, two things I want to say onclear.
And again, back to our studentwho has the planner or the
assignment settings platform,your SOC to-do list needs to
have a sensible level of detailthat allows you to tackle each
(12:32):
task without having to go offand go back to the planner or
the assignment setting systemand look at what you actually
need to do.
So, for example, item numberthree on your sock to-do list
doesn't read maths homework, itreads maths, chapter 10,
questions one through 15.
Like there's the informationright there on the list.
You don't need to go off andhunt for it uh when you get onto
the maths.
You don't want to be going offand having to hunt for things
(12:53):
that you need as you go throughthe list, that's just going to
slow you down.
So you make sure your list iscrystal clear in terms of what
you actually need to do.
Now, there's other exception tothis, you know.
Obviously, you use a little bitof common sense, like if there
are many, many paragraphs ofdetail uh in the rubric, the
instructions for a particularactivity, you know, don't copy
that all out onto your list.
You know, that would be anobvious exception where it
doesn't make sense to transferit onto your list.
(13:14):
Uh, but if you can express thetask um uh relatively simply, um
then I definitely recommendputting it on your sock to-do
list itself.
Uh the other thing I wanted tosay was make sure our list is
clear by expanding out any bigunstructured items into
appropriate substeps.
So you wouldn't, for example,write uh you know, university or
(13:35):
job applications.
Um, you would add in the detailabout what you're actually going
to do for that task tonight.
So your tool list type your taskwould instead read research X or
Y university, or start tobrainstorm ideas to include in
my application essay.
Um similarly, you wouldn't justwrite exam revision or even exam
revision on X topic, write theactual task you're going to do.
(13:57):
So you'd write make flashcardson page one through 20 of my
photosynthesis lecture, orattempt the 2023 past paper part
one.
So very specific.
It's the actual task.
Again, you're not leaving anydecisions for later, you're
making decisions on exactly whatyou're going to do at the start
of the evening.
Be clear in your description ofthe task.
Again, minimizing that brainspace needed to engage with the
(14:18):
task when the time comes.
Um and also to make sure thatthe details associated with
future tasks aren't rattlingaround and taking up mind space
when you're working on thoseearlier tasks in the list.
So finally, K stands for knockit out or knock it off.
I would have said C for cross itoff, but then it wouldn't get my
SOC acronym.
It would have two C's at theend.
(14:39):
Uh, and that felt a bitunsatisfying.
So uh we're gonna go in for Kfor knock it out, uh, knock out
each item in turn and then knockit off your list with a big
happy tick beside it or big uhsatisfying strike through as you
prefer.
The bonus of the sock to do liststrategy goes beyond just the
whole brain space conversationthat we've been stressing today.
(15:00):
It also helps with yourmotivation and overcoming
procrastination.
And it's particularly um, youknow, in by by through a couple
of mechanisms.
And so we're much lesssusceptible to procrastination
when we have a crystal clearlist of things that we're
specifically planning to dotoday, because that clarity is
real power.
What we're tapping into here isthe psychology of intention
setting.
A clear and specific intentionwritten down is a super powerful
(15:23):
tool we use in lots of contextswhen we want to build habits or
nudge human behavior.
Um, you know, the idea ofintention setting is one of the
most powerful tools behaviorchange psychologists have found.
It's extensively used when wewant to help someone give up
smoking or change, for example,exercise or nutrition habits for
the better.
Um, in addition to the intentionsetting element and that clarity
(15:44):
and specificity, um there's alsoa really nice buzz of
satisfaction that contributes toyour to this kind of buzz of
motivation as well that comeswhen you do that crossing off or
striking through or ticking offof each item in turn on your
list.
To the little moment of uh joyand satisfaction that only
builds as you cross off thefirst and then the second and
the third item all the waythrough to that particular joy
(16:05):
at the end of the day, at theend of the night, when you get
across of that final item,patting yourself on the back for
a job well done, completelycompleted to-do list.
So, make sure your to-do listsare specific to each day, order
them sensibly, make them crystalclear by adding in necessary
detail, and look forward toknocking each item off as you
(16:26):
blast through your to-do list inrecord time.
Give it a try tonight, and asalways, please send me any
questions or your feedback ifyou're trying a sock to-do list
for yourself, especially ifyou're putting this in action.
I'd love to know how you got onwith it.
And if you're listening on aplatform that supports comments,
uh, for example, YouTube orSpotify, do take a moment to
(16:48):
send me your feedback and let meknow how you get on.
For now, I just want to saythank you as always for tuning
in today.
I will look forward to catchingyou again very soon, wishing you
every success, as always, inyour studies.
SPEAKER_00 (17:01):
If you've got exams coming up, you can now get all
of William's favorite tips andtricks to save you time and get
you higher grades all in onehandy cheat cheat.
Grab your coffee atexamstudiexpert.com slash free
tips.
Thanks again for listening andsee you soon.
Hello and welcome to the Exam Study Expert Podcast.
I'm your host, psychologist, andstudy strategy coach, William
Wadsworth.
We're deep into a time of yearat the moment, that time of
broadcast, uh deep in thefall/slash autumn, depending on
where you are in the world, whenjust about everyone I know has
their sleeves rolled up and iscracking on with the real work
(00:21):
of the studying.
There's a time in the cycle forresting, there's a time for
planning and preparing, there'sa time for taking the test and
exam that's at the end of itall.
And then there's a time in themiddle for the doing, the
getting on with it.
And this time of year alwaysfeels like peak doing and
getting on with it season to me.
And when there's a lot to do,when there's a lot to get on
with, it can often feel likethere are never quite enough
(00:43):
hours to get everything done.
Or even if you are findingenough hours, asked about, you
might be kind of wondering ifthere's a more efficient way to
get through the studying youneed to accomplish each day,
each week.
So to help you with thatquestion and help you get things
done faster, today we're kickingoff a mini-series of solo
episodes from me with a few toptips on how to study faster.
(01:07):
So, no matter what your studycomprises, how you can get it
done in less time.
Um, we're not going to focus onstrategies for anything
specific.
So we're not allowed, forexample, to talk about um, you
know, memorization strategies tohelp you learn faster because in
this series we're talking aboutsomething that could help with
any form of studying.
Uh, it could be learning, itcould be research, it could be
(01:28):
writing, it could be practicingproblems, whatever.
Uh, any form of studying, whatare some general ideas that can
actually help us get it done uhfaster?
So I'm going to be broadcastingthis series on alternate weeks
uh through this month of uhNovember, our time of broadcast,
uh, and interspersed with ournormal program of guest
interviews and student storiesin the alternate weeks when this
(01:50):
series is not broadcasting.
So the three big ideas we'll belooking at across the series
this month are working fasterthrough keeping a clearer mind.
I'll be diving into that today,working faster by setting
limits, and that's coming up ina couple of weeks' time, and
then working faster throughsharper prioritization.
My goal is to keep eachinstalment pretty short, pretty
(02:11):
bite-sized.
I know I let some of my uh soloepisodes run a little bit long,
and I've done some prettymonster ones uh in the past
earlier this year.
Uh so I want to take a littlebit of a uh a different format
for this series and keep itreally tight, keep it really
short.
Possibly not covering everystrategy or tactic that I could
possibly think of relating tothis idea under the sun, maybe
just focusing on one or two ofthe big ideas, my absolute
favorites, uh, in the interestsof keeping a really tight,
(02:33):
really bite-sized uh andhopefully very practical and
very useful uh installment foryou.
So let's start today with thepower of a clearer mind and how
this can help, surprisingly helpwith uh actually getting your
work done, your studying donefaster.
It's true, your brain, a bitlike a computer, really does run
(02:55):
faster when it's less cluttered.
The analogy is pretty goodactually.
So if you ever used an oldercomputer, you may have noticed
it running more slowly if youever try and run too many
programs all at once.
If you try and do, for example,some video editing or some
gaming, something that's quiteintensive on the kind of the
process of the thinking engine,um, while you've also got a
(03:16):
whole bunch of like browsertabs, for example, open in the
background, the whole computerruns slower, it stutters, it may
even freeze and crash entirely.
It's not too dissimilar towhat's going on in the brain.
So, for those of you familiarwith the idea of working memory,
um, essentially, this is thestore for the stuff you're
thinking about right now, in anyinstance of your life.
(03:40):
And you'll know if you'refamiliar with working memory,
that it's very limited in itscapacity.
In other words, we can only holda relatively limited set of data
or ideas in our mind at any onemoment.
So the more unnecessary mentalclutter we've got, taking up
bandwidth in our working memory,the slower the brain processes
new thinking, and the slower youwill end up working and getting
(04:03):
through any form ofthinking-related task, which is
basically all kinds of studying,you know, every kind of studying
you could think of, whether it'swriting or learning or research,
whatever it is, it's it involvesthinking.
Um, the slower you end upthinking, the more unnecessary
junk you've got sitting aroundcluttering up your working
memory.
If we close down all thoseunnecessary browser tabs in the
(04:24):
background and just run the oneprogram that we want to run, uh
it runs smoother and faster.
And similarly, clearing out theunnecessary mental clutter from
your working memory and yourmind helps your brain think
smoother and faster as a result.
And that means we can getthrough things in less time.
As a bonus, we may even end upbeing able to solve things that
(04:44):
we wouldn't have otherwise beenable to, or possibly have
insights and ideas that a morecluttered mind might not have
had the bandwidth to come upwith.
So there are various things thatcontribute to mental clutter.
We're not going to tackle themall today.
Uh, there's things likerumination, planning ahead, um,
distractions, mind wandering,and more, all of which have
(05:07):
specific tools to address them.
And these are things that I workon with my coaching clients to
help minimize that mentalclutter and help them be as
efficient as possible when theyengage with their work each day.
For today, I want to focus onone big idea that I think is
universally applicable to prettymuch anybody, which is the power
of a really good to-do list.
(05:28):
I think it's the first place I'dwant to start uh when it comes
to reducing our mental clutteras learners, as students, as
scholars.
Having a specific ordered andcomplete to-do list for each day
helps you knock it out easilyand speedily.
Now, ideas often spread furtherwhen they have a catchy acronym.
(05:50):
So I've come up with the acronymSOCK to help you remember this.
Um, that stands for the s seriesof things we want to make a
really good to-do list uh uhfollow.
So SOCK stands for uh this theSOCK of SOC.
The acronym stands for S for uhspecific, O for ordered, C for
(06:11):
clear, and K for knocking itout.
You know what you'll be able todo uh when you've uh got through
your items in the to-do list.
So SOCK SOC.
Yeah, we want to make SOC to-dolists.
Um, I I always like to thinkthat one day I might have an
impact with my various ideas.
So in years to come, uh perhapsI'll look forward to seeing
(06:32):
posters on classrooms andlecture hall walls about making
sock to-do lists and maybe studygrammars, doing nice
infographics to teach theirfollowers about the sock to-do
list.
Uh, no doubt having some kind ofcorny stock sock graphic in the
background.
Try saying that with falseteeth.
Um they may even be kind enoughto link back to this very
podcast as the place the sockto-do list movement got started.
(06:53):
Anyway, uh before I get toocarried away with myself, let's
break down what a sock to-dolist actually is, and you'll see
how useful it could potentiallybe for you.
It's okay, so let's dive in.
The S of SOC stands forspecific.
Your to-do list has to bespecific for today,
specifically.
So capturing everything youintend to do today, nothing
(07:15):
more, nothing less.
That might include a mix ofstudy tasks as well as tasks for
other areas of your life, ifapplicable.
Applications for jobs oruniversities or programs or
internships, life admin, and allthe rest.
As you sit down with a clearpatch of time ahead of you to
work on your stuff, that couldbe at the start of the day in
the morning, that could be atthe start of the evening when
(07:36):
you've got home.
We start to write down, we startby writing down what we are
going to do specifically thatevening or that day.
Nothing more, nothing less.
A particular note I want to makeis that many students, uh,
particularly in at the kind ofschool stage, have planners or
some sort of system throughwhich they receive set
(07:57):
assignments, might be GoogleClassroom or Teams, for example.
That alone is not specific totonight, uh to this evening or
today, because it's gonnainclude things on that system,
that planner, that you're notgonna work on today.
Typically, you're just gonnachoose a subset of whatever
outstanding assignment tasksyou've got on any given day to
work on today.
(08:17):
You can't always cleareverything tonight, so you'd
have to make choices.
What are you going to haveworked on today?
What are you gonna leave tillanother day?
There may also be things thataren't covered by your planner
or your assignment settingsystem.
For example, things like examrevision or ongoing work to
consolidate what you've learnedin class.
Um, or as we've said, there maybe tasks on there that fall
outside of the academic domainthat you also need to make
(08:38):
progress on today.
So your SOC to-do list startswith being S-specific about the
exact things you're doing today.
We choose what those are, wecapture them all, and then we
implicitly say no to the rest.
So we're making a consciouschoice that if it's not on our
list for today, we're not gonnaget to it today.
Sometimes there's a little bitof uncertainty into how much
(08:58):
you'll get done that night.
You're not quite sure how someof those early tasks are gonna
do.
So you might separate your listout into the higher priority
things that you definitely needto do.
Uh, you tackle those first, andthen if you have time, other
ones that you'll get onto if uhtime allows.
Now, just capturing the thingsyou're gonna do tonight, nothing
more, nothing less, is already abig step towards decluttering
(09:18):
the mind.
So many of my students over theyears tell me about how they
find this experience.
They kind of have thisexperience that they they waste
a lot of brain space worryingabout other tasks that they need
to do while they're working onsomething else.
So they're doing you know,beavering away on a set of you
know math problems or mathsproblems or something, uh, and
their brain is nagging themabout also having to do uh an
(09:39):
essay later on, or maybe theyshould be doing the essay now
and they they've chosen to dothe maths, but you know,
actually, maybe they should haveprioritized their essay.
So your brain is kind of naggingyou and it's worrying, oh, have
I made the right choices?
When we do our sock to-do list,it gets rid of all that.
We make a clear choice at thestart of the day or the start of
the evening, you eliminate allthat kind of mental back and
forth of worrying, oh, am Idoing the right thing, have I
prioritized the right thing.
(10:00):
Okay.
So we want to start with aspecific list, and the O stands
for putting it in order ofattack.
So when you come up with yourorder, um, you might like to
group similar tasks together.
For example, if there aremultiple tasks that you'll do on
your laptop, do those together,then you put the laptop away and
switch those to the analog taskswith your just your books.
You may have um higher prioritytasks at the top.
(10:22):
So if you don't quite get toeverything on your list tonight,
you've already done the kind ofthe most urgent things.
You might also choose to putyour more challenging tasks
first.
Um earlier on in the task list,um, that's typically when your
brain is going to be a bitfresher, more alert, and you
save those less taxing tasks,maybe kind of if there's
anything that's a bit more kindof administrative, a bit more
brainless, um, you know, savethose for the end when you're a
(10:44):
bit tired.
Again, when we put our list inorder, we're reducing the brain
space that goes on makingdecisions about what to work on
next.
So we're always super, super umclear about the order we go in.
When you finish one task, youknow what's coming next.
We just need to execute ourplan.
We don't need to worry aboutmaking decisions about our plan
(11:06):
as we go through it.
One little tip here.
If you have a lot of tasks tojuggle today, you may even
choose, you may even find ithelpful, you know, if you've got
like quite a lot of differentthings to get through, then you
may choose to even brainstormyour options in rough and then
transfer the list into a neatorder.
One, two, three, four.
I like my list to be to be veryclearly written out if I'm doing
it on paper, which I probably doabout half the time.
(11:28):
Um I flip between writing mytasks on a piece of A4 paper in
my lined black and red notebook.
Um, or uh sometimes I'll writemy tasks out on separate lines
in Excel.
Um I like the paper because it'skind of clearer and more in my
face, um, but I like the Excelbecause it's a bit more flexible
and I can drag items up and downthe list uh to reorder it a
little bit more easily.
Uh so I tend to do towards theExcel version if there are
(11:50):
perhaps a lot of smaller itemsand perhaps I've got more things
going on in the day.
Um and I tend towards the paperversion if there's maybe just a
simpler list of like three,four, five big things and there
isn't so much detail.
There's less risk I might needto move things around as we go.
So we have our specific tasksthat in the order we'll attack
them.
The final thing we need to do isto make sure our list is clear.
(12:11):
That's the C in our SOC acronym.
So, what does a clear list mean?
Well, a clear list means we canlook at our list and get the
right level of information aboutwhat we actually need to do for
the task.
So, two things I want to say onclear.
And again, back to our studentwho has the planner or the
assignment settings platform,your SOC to-do list needs to
have a sensible level of detailthat allows you to tackle each
(12:32):
task without having to go offand go back to the planner or
the assignment setting systemand look at what you actually
need to do.
So, for example, item numberthree on your sock to-do list
doesn't read maths homework, itreads maths, chapter 10,
questions one through 15.
Like there's the informationright there on the list.
You don't need to go off andhunt for it uh when you get onto
the maths.
You don't want to be going offand having to hunt for things
(12:53):
that you need as you go throughthe list, that's just going to
slow you down.
So you make sure your list iscrystal clear in terms of what
you actually need to do.
Now, there's other exception tothis, you know.
Obviously, you use a little bitof common sense, like if there
are many, many paragraphs ofdetail uh in the rubric, the
instructions for a particularactivity, you know, don't copy
that all out onto your list.
You know, that would be anobvious exception where it
doesn't make sense to transferit onto your list.
(13:14):
Uh, but if you can express thetask um uh relatively simply, um
then I definitely recommendputting it on your sock to-do
list itself.
Uh the other thing I wanted tosay was make sure our list is
clear by expanding out any bigunstructured items into
appropriate substeps.
So you wouldn't, for example,write uh you know, university or
(13:35):
job applications.
Um, you would add in the detailabout what you're actually going
to do for that task tonight.
So your tool list type your taskwould instead read research X or
Y university, or start tobrainstorm ideas to include in
my application essay.
Um similarly, you wouldn't justwrite exam revision or even exam
revision on X topic, write theactual task you're going to do.
(13:57):
So you'd write make flashcardson page one through 20 of my
photosynthesis lecture, orattempt the 2023 past paper part
one.
So very specific.
It's the actual task.
Again, you're not leaving anydecisions for later, you're
making decisions on exactly whatyou're going to do at the start
of the evening.
Be clear in your description ofthe task.
Again, minimizing that brainspace needed to engage with the
(14:18):
task when the time comes.
Um and also to make sure thatthe details associated with
future tasks aren't rattlingaround and taking up mind space
when you're working on thoseearlier tasks in the list.
So finally, K stands for knockit out or knock it off.
I would have said C for cross itoff, but then it wouldn't get my
SOC acronym.
It would have two C's at theend.
(14:39):
Uh, and that felt a bitunsatisfying.
So uh we're gonna go in for Kfor knock it out, uh, knock out
each item in turn and then knockit off your list with a big
happy tick beside it or big uhsatisfying strike through as you
prefer.
The bonus of the sock to do liststrategy goes beyond just the
whole brain space conversationthat we've been stressing today.
(15:00):
It also helps with yourmotivation and overcoming
procrastination.
And it's particularly um, youknow, in by by through a couple
of mechanisms.
And so we're much lesssusceptible to procrastination
when we have a crystal clearlist of things that we're
specifically planning to dotoday, because that clarity is
real power.
What we're tapping into here isthe psychology of intention
setting.
A clear and specific intentionwritten down is a super powerful
(15:23):
tool we use in lots of contextswhen we want to build habits or
nudge human behavior.
Um, you know, the idea ofintention setting is one of the
most powerful tools behaviorchange psychologists have found.
It's extensively used when wewant to help someone give up
smoking or change, for example,exercise or nutrition habits for
the better.
Um, in addition to the intentionsetting element and that clarity
(15:44):
and specificity, um there's alsoa really nice buzz of
satisfaction that contributes toyour to this kind of buzz of
motivation as well that comeswhen you do that crossing off or
striking through or ticking offof each item in turn on your
list.
To the little moment of uh joyand satisfaction that only
builds as you cross off thefirst and then the second and
the third item all the waythrough to that particular joy
(16:05):
at the end of the day, at theend of the night, when you get
across of that final item,patting yourself on the back for
a job well done, completelycompleted to-do list.
So, make sure your to-do listsare specific to each day, order
them sensibly, make them crystalclear by adding in necessary
detail, and look forward toknocking each item off as you
(16:26):
blast through your to-do list inrecord time.
Give it a try tonight, and asalways, please send me any
questions or your feedback ifyou're trying a sock to-do list
for yourself, especially ifyou're putting this in action.
I'd love to know how you got onwith it.
And if you're listening on aplatform that supports comments,
uh, for example, YouTube orSpotify, do take a moment to
(16:48):
send me your feedback and let meknow how you get on.
For now, I just want to saythank you as always for tuning
in today.
I will look forward to catchingyou again very soon, wishing you
every success, as always, inyour studies.
SPEAKER_00 (17:01):
If you've got exams coming up, you can now get all
of William's favorite tips andtricks to save you time and get
you higher grades all in onehandy cheat cheat.
Grab your coffee atexamstudiexpert.com slash free
tips.
Thanks again for listening andsee you soon.
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