1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 3 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: Today's tip is to keep your to do list short. 4 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: Not only does a short to do list increase the 5 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: chances that you make progress toward your goals, you'll feel 6 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: a lot better about them too. It probably won't surprise 7 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: anyone listening to this that I love to make to 8 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:32,480 Speaker 1: do lists. When I planned my weeks on Friday afternoons, 9 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: I set my major goals for the week professionally and personally. 10 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,479 Speaker 1: Then each evening I make my to do list for 11 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: the next day of what needs to get done by 12 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 1: the time I go to bed. I write down anything 13 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: time specific that I've committed to, and then also assign 14 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: myself a handful of other tasks informed by my weekly priorities. 15 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: Note that word handful, we are talking three to five things. 16 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: We are not talking twenty things or fifty things, which 17 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 1: is what I used to do. Here's why I've learned 18 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: to keep the list as short as possible. So I 19 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: pride myself on being a trustworthy person. I imagine you 20 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: do too, and part of being trustworthy is keeping the 21 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: promises we make to ourselves. If I put something on 22 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,320 Speaker 1: my to do list, I am committing to do it. 23 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,319 Speaker 1: I am committing to do it before the day is through. 24 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:29,960 Speaker 1: But wait, people say, what if things come up? Well, 25 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: guess what. This is not an if. This is an inevitability. 26 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 1: Because emergencies happen and things go wrong. Things can go 27 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: massively right as well, but sometimes that takes time to Consequently, 28 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: the only way to guarantee that I will keep my 29 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: promise to myself and do the things on my to 30 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: do list is to keep my to do list short. 31 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: This seems straightforward, but I've found over the years that 32 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: a lot of people really resist this idea. They'll say 33 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: things like, Laura, I have so much going on. I 34 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: can't just put three to five things on my to 35 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: do list. I have fifty things to do. But guess what, 36 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: you won't do fifty things tomorrow. You'll do some of 37 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: those things, but were they the things that truly needed 38 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: to get done, or maybe they were just the ones 39 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:18,240 Speaker 1: you saw first, or that seemed easiest, or that someone 40 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: yelled the loudest about Making a short list forces you 41 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: to prioritize. If the day goes great and you get 42 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: through that list and have extra time. Awesome, go find 43 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: some other stuff. I'm sure you can come up with 44 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: plenty to do. But here's the thing. There is no 45 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: virtue in putting something on a to do list and 46 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: then not doing it. It's just as not done as 47 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:43,639 Speaker 1: if you never put it on your list at all, 48 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:46,839 Speaker 1: and in fact it's worse than that. If you put 49 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: it on your to do list and don't do it, 50 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: you feel bad, whereas if you didn't put it on 51 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,960 Speaker 1: your list and you didn't do it. Expectations have met reality, 52 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:01,080 Speaker 1: and this is really the secret to happiness. Now. Of course, 53 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 1: we all have more than three to five things that 54 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,200 Speaker 1: were responsible for in the universe, so a lot of 55 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: people find it helpful to keep running lists of other 56 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: things they need to do at some point, but not 57 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: right now. Bullet journal fans might make these lists as collections. 58 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: Getting things done author David Allen's readers use his suggestion 59 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,640 Speaker 1: of a some day maybe list. I make these speculative 60 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:25,839 Speaker 1: lists from time to time. Two in my planner. These 61 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: are house projects I might want to tackle, things to 62 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: do with my kids, seasonal activities, future podcast ideas, people 63 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: to reach out to, book concepts, whatever. If there's something 64 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:37,440 Speaker 1: I decided to commit to in the future, I'll put 65 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 1: it on my calendar for that day, and then it 66 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: will become part of that day's to do list or 67 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: list of time specific commitments. But there's no point thinking 68 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: about it tomorrow and cluttering up my mental landscape for 69 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: tomorrow when I plan to tackle it in two months, 70 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: three to five. Things might not seem like much, but 71 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: I promise it does add up. In one of my books, 72 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: Off the Clock, I tell the story about my friend 73 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: Damon Brown, who spent some time as the primary parent 74 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 1: for his young son a few years ago. Because he 75 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 1: was caring for an infant all day, his time was 76 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: obviously limited. However, he also had a few professional opportunities 77 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: he really wanted to tackle during this time, such as 78 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: co founding a company, so he started writing his to 79 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,720 Speaker 1: do list for the day on an index card one 80 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: side of an index card. If it took up more 81 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: than one side of the card. He knew he had 82 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:29,919 Speaker 1: too much on his plate and it wasn't going to 83 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,599 Speaker 1: happen around his baby responsibilities. Better to push it into 84 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,720 Speaker 1: the future. But after a few months of this, he 85 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: looked at his life and realized he was being shockingly 86 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,640 Speaker 1: productive three to five well chosen activities per day is 87 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: a lot. I mean three per day is fifteen per 88 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 1: work week. That's seven fifty per year. And if they 89 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:52,239 Speaker 1: all matter well, you could probably conquer the world. So today, 90 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:54,239 Speaker 1: look at your to do list with this in mind, 91 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: what do you actually intend to do today and what 92 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: amounts to a less expectation that will just make you 93 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:05,279 Speaker 1: feel bad. Choose three to five things you will truly 94 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 1: hold yourself to doing. Assign other things to other times. 95 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,920 Speaker 1: Pretty soon you'll be feeling less busy and getting more done. 96 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:21,479 Speaker 1: In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and 97 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:33,479 Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. M Hey everybody, 98 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me 99 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:39,479 Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with 100 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod 101 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: that's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D. 102 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast 103 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast 104 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, 105 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is 106 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:10,360 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from 107 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, 108 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.