WEBVTT - Tighten your to-do list 

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to tighten your to do list. By

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<v Speaker 1>making your day's list short and focused, you will make progress,

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<v Speaker 1>and progress is incredibly motivational. Figuring out what makes for

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<v Speaker 1>a good work day is hard enough as it is,

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<v Speaker 1>and this is doubly true for the millions of folks

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<v Speaker 1>who have started working from home over the last year.

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<v Speaker 1>When you commute to an office, the act of getting

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<v Speaker 1>ready and going somewhere and seeing people can make you

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<v Speaker 1>feel like you've done something, even if you really haven't.

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<v Speaker 1>When you're at home, an unproductive or undirected day can

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<v Speaker 1>make you feel like you're just spinning your wheels. Plus,

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<v Speaker 1>there's this question, how do you know when you're done?

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<v Speaker 1>If you commute to an office you do eventually have

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<v Speaker 1>to leave, you aren't going to sleep there. In a

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<v Speaker 1>home office, it can be easy to keep half working

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<v Speaker 1>all night. You're not getting anything done, but you're not

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<v Speaker 1>relaxing either, which is the worst of all possible scenarios.

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<v Speaker 1>So here's an idea. Tighten your to do list. Make

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<v Speaker 1>yourself a short list of three to five challenging but

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<v Speaker 1>doable tasks. When chosen well, this can be enough, especially

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<v Speaker 1>since stuff will come up. Stuff always comes up. And

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<v Speaker 1>when you are able to cross everything off your days

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<v Speaker 1>to do list, which you can when it's short, you

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<v Speaker 1>will be able to choose new stuff for the next day.

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<v Speaker 1>You will make progress and that feels amazing. Plus, when

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<v Speaker 1>the list is all done, the day can be done.

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<v Speaker 1>That gives you permission to relax. Unfortunately, over the years,

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<v Speaker 1>I've noticed that most people approached to do lists in

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<v Speaker 1>an entirely different and I would say far less productive

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<v Speaker 1>way they make them, which I guess is good. But

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<v Speaker 1>the to do list will have forty items on it's

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<v Speaker 1>it's more of a comprehensive list of anything you might

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<v Speaker 1>ever want to do. But while a forty item to

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<v Speaker 1>do list might make you feel important, it's actually self defeating.

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<v Speaker 1>You will not get through forty items in a day.

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<v Speaker 1>You will get through some of them, but which ones

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<v Speaker 1>the most important? Well probably not. It's going to be

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<v Speaker 1>the easiest ones or whatever is screaming loudest at a

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<v Speaker 1>particular moment, So stuff that needed to happen won't get

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<v Speaker 1>done or will be done under extreme time pressure at

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<v Speaker 1>the last moment, and you'll wind up rolling many things

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<v Speaker 1>over to the next day. You in the day feeling defeated,

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<v Speaker 1>or if you're working at home, maybe the day just

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't end. And what was the point of this? So

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<v Speaker 1>hear me out on this one. There is no virtue

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<v Speaker 1>in putting something on a to do list and then

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<v Speaker 1>not doing it. It is just as undone as if

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<v Speaker 1>you had never put it on the list in the

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<v Speaker 1>first place, only now it's there, making you feel bad

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<v Speaker 1>for not doing it. A better approach is too tighten

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<v Speaker 1>your to do list down to only the things that

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<v Speaker 1>you absolutely intend to do that day. I mean, come

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<v Speaker 1>hell or high water, even if the power in your

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<v Speaker 1>home office goes out at ten thirty a m. Indeed,

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<v Speaker 1>this is actually a good way to construct a to

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<v Speaker 1>do list. If you were to lose power at ten

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<v Speaker 1>thirty a m. What would you absolutely need to have

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<v Speaker 1>gotten done today? When the list is tight enough, it

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<v Speaker 1>can become a contract with yourself you get through it.

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<v Speaker 1>When you do get through it, you know that you

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<v Speaker 1>have done important work. When the list is done, you

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<v Speaker 1>can relax. Everything else you do is just gravy. If

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<v Speaker 1>you want to to go choose some other stuff to

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<v Speaker 1>work on. Well, great. You can keep a maybe list,

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<v Speaker 1>or a rolling projects list, or some other lists somewhere

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<v Speaker 1>that has all the things going on that you could,

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<v Speaker 1>in theory do. But don't treat this unprioritized broad list

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<v Speaker 1>as a daily to do list, because it isn't. You

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<v Speaker 1>can pull things off this broad list to make your

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<v Speaker 1>tight daily to do list, but only if you truly

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<v Speaker 1>intend to do them today. So if you think this

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<v Speaker 1>is going to make you worry that stuff isn't getting done,

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<v Speaker 1>here's a variation on this theme. Some weeks, I will

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<v Speaker 1>make my to do list for the whole week ahead

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<v Speaker 1>of time. Monday's three to five tasks are the most

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<v Speaker 1>set because I have a better sense of that day

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<v Speaker 1>is going to look like. But I can assign a

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<v Speaker 1>few things to other days too. What three things do

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<v Speaker 1>I plan to do on Tuesday? That way, when I

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<v Speaker 1>remember on Monday that I don't only have three to

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<v Speaker 1>five things going on in my life, I can relax.

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<v Speaker 1>There is a time for them later in the week. See,

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<v Speaker 1>I've got them on the list for Tuesday, not today.

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<v Speaker 1>My to do list is like a Ferris wheel. We

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<v Speaker 1>focus on these three to five things on Monday and

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<v Speaker 1>then Tuesday, it spins and we focus on a few more.

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<v Speaker 1>Wednesday we get to others and so on to everything

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<v Speaker 1>in turn. Whereas when we attempt to do all these

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<v Speaker 1>things all at once, the ferris wheel winds up with

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<v Speaker 1>ten cars at the top, and well, we've got a problem.

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<v Speaker 1>So today, rather than diving into a forty item un

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<v Speaker 1>prioritized list, choose three to five things that absolutely have

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<v Speaker 1>to get done today. Figure out when roughly you'll do them,

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<v Speaker 1>hold yourself accountable to doing them. Keep this promise to

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<v Speaker 1>yourself and do these things by the end of the day.

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<v Speaker 1>When you do this, day after day, you will find

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<v Speaker 1>yourself getting a lot more done. And if you're working

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<v Speaker 1>from home, you know that you can close your laptop

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<v Speaker 1>guilt free. You know that you have put in a

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<v Speaker 1>good day and you will tomorrow too when you tighten

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<v Speaker 1>your to do list enough. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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<v Speaker 1>our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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