Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we talk strategies for thriving in the
Speaker 1: new world of work, one where location and ours are
Speaker 1: more flexible than in the past. Today's tip is too
Speaker 1: strictly limit your to do list. This is the secret
Speaker 1: for both feeling less busy and getting more done. For
Speaker 1: those new to remote work, you may assume you'll now
Speaker 1: have time to do everything that got put off before.
Speaker 1: With no drop by meetings from chatty co workers and
Speaker 1: no commute it may feel like time will be abundant,
Speaker 1: and certainly there may be options for deeper work. But
Speaker 1: if you've got kids underfoot and are sharing caregiving responsibilities
Speaker 1: with your partner, you may have less time available than
Speaker 1: you might have thought. And for everyone, meetings don't automatically
Speaker 1: become more efficient or better organized just because they move
Speaker 1: to video platforms. What all this means is that you're
Speaker 1: much better off creating a very short to do list.
Speaker 1: Unhappiness stems from a mismatch between expectations and reality. If
Speaker 1: we can't always change reality, we're better off changing our expectations.
Speaker 1: Here's how this can play out each evening. As you're
Speaker 1: powering down for the day. Look at tomorrow's schedule. Become
Speaker 1: familiar with what David Allen calls the hard landscape, that is,
Speaker 1: appointments you've set at specific times. Think through what hours
Speaker 1: you plan to work, taking into account any agreements you've
Speaker 1: made with the rest of your family. So if you're
Speaker 1: working from seven a m. To noon, and then whatever
Speaker 1: time you can get during naptime, or if you're working
Speaker 1: from nine to five, sort of normal hours, see what
Speaker 1: time is still available around the appointments. Then set a
Speaker 1: few priorities for the day. I recommend holding this list
Speaker 1: to somewhere between three to five things. No, this is
Speaker 1: not all you have going on in the world, but
Speaker 1: what is most important for you to pumplished today? If
Speaker 1: nothing else happened, what three to five things would make
Speaker 1: you feel like the day was a success. This exercise
Speaker 1: has a few benefits. First, it forces prioritization. When everything
Speaker 1: is important, nothing is important. A short to do list
Speaker 1: forces you to think through what truly matters. Feel free
Speaker 1: to create a different list of everything that is on
Speaker 1: your mind, but today's priority list should focus on what
Speaker 1: matters today. Second, it leaves space for stuff to come up.
Speaker 1: There are people who say day after day, well I'm
Speaker 1: meant to do this, but stuff came up. Well, of
Speaker 1: course stuff comes up. This is the nature of life.
Speaker 1: You can't know at nine am everything that will develop
Speaker 1: by five pm, but you can leave open time so
Speaker 1: you can deal with it. Trust me, you won't be
Speaker 1: twiddling your thumbs. Finally, a short list can make you
Speaker 1: feel incredibly productive. Progress is motivational. When you put three
Speaker 1: things on a to do list, you are highly likely
Speaker 1: to actually do them. Indeed, you can start holding yourself
Speaker 1: accountable to your list in a way that you just
Speaker 1: can't with a longer list. Putting something on your to
Speaker 1: do list becomes a contract with yourself. You become the
Speaker 1: architect of your days. And while yes, three things a
Speaker 1: day doesn't sound like much, if they're all important, these
Speaker 1: steps do add up. Three important things day is fifteen
Speaker 1: things a week. That's about set important things per year,
Speaker 1: which sounds pretty good to me. So rather than making
Speaker 1: a twenty item to do list, getting through five of
Speaker 1: them and feeling like a failure, how about making a
Speaker 1: five item list and doing all of them. You'll feel
Speaker 1: on top of the world in the meantime. This is Laura,
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's the succeeding in the New
Speaker 1: Corner Office. The New Corner Office is a production of
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