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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is that a task is a verb plus a noun.

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Speaker 1: Your to do list doesn't actually tell you what to

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Speaker 1: do unless it states the actions that you need to take.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip comes from my Before Breakfast interview with productivity

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Speaker 1: expert Charlie Gilkey. When we talked a few months ago,

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Speaker 1: he noted that a to do list should contain verb

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Speaker 1: noun constructs. As he put it, he illustrated this by

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Speaker 1: pointing out that common to do list items like podcast

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Speaker 1: and Jane aren't actually tasks. Record podcast and call Jane

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Speaker 1: would be tasks, So would recommend the daily podcast to

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Speaker 1: carl and get birthday gift for Jane. Now, clearly those

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Speaker 1: are very different to dos. A noun alone like podcasts

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Speaker 1: or Jane, does not tell you what you need to do.

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Speaker 1: You need more information. And while it is quite possible

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Speaker 1: that you would remember what podcast or Jane mean in

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Speaker 1: your contexts, this does require a little bit more mental effort.

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Speaker 1: When people feel overwhelmed or fatigued looking at their to

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Speaker 1: do lists, I think it is often because these to

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Speaker 1: do lists aren't clear, and the extra effort to figure

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Speaker 1: out what exactly you need to do can make it

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Speaker 1: difficult to get started. One way around this, which Charlie recommends,

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Speaker 1: is writing your to do list as though it is

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Speaker 1: intended for someone else. That way, when you get to

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Speaker 1: the task, you'll know what you meant by the phrase

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Speaker 1: on your list. Writing or typing just a few more

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Speaker 1: words to clarify the task can save your future self

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Speaker 1: confusion and headaches. The to do list will look a

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Speaker 1: lot more doable or and this sometimes happens. Writing the

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Speaker 1: list as though it's intended for someone else can come

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Speaker 1: in handy if you do need to delegate items. If

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Speaker 1: you are out sick for a few days, you could

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Speaker 1: potentially send along a well constructed to do list to

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Speaker 1: the people filling in for you, and they could actually

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Speaker 1: fill in for you. If you need help from a

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Speaker 1: family member with personal tasks, they will have a much

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Speaker 1: easier time doing this if they know they need to

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Speaker 1: buy gifts for Melissa and Ruth, rather than trying to

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Speaker 1: figure out what you meant by Melissa and Ruth. As

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Speaker 1: it is. I suspect one reason people have trouble getting

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Speaker 1: through their lists is that their list are vague, and

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Speaker 1: this is because people don't know what they need to do.

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Speaker 1: So there is an item like research when you are

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Speaker 1: stuck or figure out how to deal with John. Now,

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Speaker 1: I will acknowledge that this last phrase contains a noun

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Speaker 1: and a verb, but you still don't know exactly what

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Speaker 1: you need to do. Ideally, making a to do list

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Speaker 1: is itself an act of making a choice of what

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Speaker 1: does need to be done. You think about it, and

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Speaker 1: then you figure out your course of action, so you

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Speaker 1: don't need to kick this can down the road. A

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Speaker 1: better item would be list three ideas I could try

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Speaker 1: with John, and then ask for advice from Kate about

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Speaker 1: which ideal would be best with John. If you are

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Speaker 1: struggling with to do lists that are perpetually hanging over

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Speaker 1: your head but don't give you clear instructions about what

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Speaker 1: actions to take, try out Charlie's tip. Make sure every

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Speaker 1: item on your to do list contains a noun and

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Speaker 1: a verb. Write it like you're writing for someone else,

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Speaker 1: and make sure the verb itself is doable. You just

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Speaker 1: might find yourself getting more done in the meantime. This

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Speaker 1: is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's to making the

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Speaker 1: most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

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Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

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Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,

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Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.