WEBVTT - Make a Friday punch list 

0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:07.560
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:14.760
<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:20.000
<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to make a Friday punch list. When

0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.279
<v Speaker 1>little tasks come up during the week, make a list

0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:26.720
<v Speaker 1>of them. This way you can batch them, doing them

0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:29.560
<v Speaker 1>all at once and keeping them from taking over the

0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:34.400
<v Speaker 1>rest of your week. The more I study people's work schedules,

0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:36.760
<v Speaker 1>the more important I see it is that we match

0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:40.880
<v Speaker 1>the right work to the right time. If you tackle

0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:44.159
<v Speaker 1>a challenging task when you have the most energy and

0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:49.400
<v Speaker 1>discipline and focus, maybe you can get it done. If

0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:52.240
<v Speaker 1>you try to tackle the challenging task when you're going

0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.720
<v Speaker 1>to get interrupted and when you have less energy, it

0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.560
<v Speaker 1>probably won't get done, or if it does, it will

0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:04.920
<v Speaker 1>take a lot longer than it could have. And yet, unfortunately,

0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:08.000
<v Speaker 1>many people don't really think about this when they create

0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:11.120
<v Speaker 1>their work schedules. And even if you don't really have

0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.600
<v Speaker 1>control over when you have meetings, you may have control

0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:17.520
<v Speaker 1>over when you tackle tasks and whether you do so

0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:21.720
<v Speaker 1>during high energy times that aren't spoken for. If you

0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:25.360
<v Speaker 1>begin the day by clearing the decks, that is, doing

0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:29.200
<v Speaker 1>all those little tasks that can stack up, you might

0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:33.880
<v Speaker 1>feel really productive. But you might only get to those

0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.559
<v Speaker 1>little tasks before your first meeting, and then that's over,

0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:40.440
<v Speaker 1>and then you only have a twenty minute gap before

0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.520
<v Speaker 1>a call, and then it's lunch, and then you feel

0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:45.920
<v Speaker 1>like you need a nap, and well, you see how

0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:50.200
<v Speaker 1>this goes. One way to avoid this is to let

0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:54.600
<v Speaker 1>the little things stack up. If you actually have to

0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:58.520
<v Speaker 1>do something immediately, well that's fine, do it. But I'm

0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:01.280
<v Speaker 1>actually not a really big fan of that time management

0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.040
<v Speaker 1>rule that if something only takes two minutes, you should

0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:10.040
<v Speaker 1>just do it. Life can disappear into two minute tasks.

0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:14.840
<v Speaker 1>Our best and most productive time can likewise disappear into

0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:19.280
<v Speaker 1>two minute tasks. I think we are better off batching

0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:23.320
<v Speaker 1>those two minute tasks and then plowing through them together

0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:25.520
<v Speaker 1>at a time when we don't have a ton of

0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:30.400
<v Speaker 1>energy for doing other things. So that's why I've taken

0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:34.600
<v Speaker 1>to making what I call a Friday punch list. In construction,

0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.360
<v Speaker 1>a punch list is all those tasks that come up

0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:42.040
<v Speaker 1>during the project that you didn't necessarily know about ahead

0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:45.880
<v Speaker 1>of time. You tackle those all together at the end

0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.799
<v Speaker 1>of the project. I think this has some good parallels

0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:54.120
<v Speaker 1>for other tasks too. When little tasks come up during

0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:57.959
<v Speaker 1>the week, paying a bill that's not immediately do, sending

0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:02.040
<v Speaker 1>a Foeman somewhere changing it to get a reservation. I

0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:06.200
<v Speaker 1>add these to the punch list. Friday's tend to be

0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:10.360
<v Speaker 1>a low energy time. Most people aren't raring to start

0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:15.160
<v Speaker 1>new things on Friday's, particularly Friday afternoons. But this can

0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:18.120
<v Speaker 1>be a good time for planning the week ahead, and

0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.840
<v Speaker 1>it can also be a good time for tackling little

0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:25.600
<v Speaker 1>things when the opportunity cost is low. No need to

0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:28.640
<v Speaker 1>clear the decks before doing deep work. You do the

0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:34.360
<v Speaker 1>deep work and then clear the decks right before the weekend. Now,

0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.040
<v Speaker 1>I have suggested this idea of various places, and I've

0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.680
<v Speaker 1>gotten a surprising amount of pushback about it. First, I

0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.400
<v Speaker 1>think it's that that two minute rule is pretty ingrained

0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:46.760
<v Speaker 1>for people. But honestly, I suspect that one of the

0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:50.600
<v Speaker 1>reasons people like doing little tasks during the week is

0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:55.160
<v Speaker 1>that it feels really productive. Who knows if I am

0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.600
<v Speaker 1>making progress on my most important goals, but I know

0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.680
<v Speaker 1>for sure that I ordered that birthday present and sent

0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:05.640
<v Speaker 1>that form over to HR. It feels good to cross

0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:10.480
<v Speaker 1>things off. But when we deny ourselves these easy winds.

0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.280
<v Speaker 1>We can use that desire for productivity to actually get

0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:19.120
<v Speaker 1>important things done. We will still get to the little things,

0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:26.200
<v Speaker 1>just not yet, not right now, not when we are

0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:30.719
<v Speaker 1>capable of doing bigger things. And as for that other excuse,

0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:32.920
<v Speaker 1>I hear from people that the little things will weigh

0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:35.000
<v Speaker 1>on me and I won't remember them, so I'll have

0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:37.120
<v Speaker 1>to spend mental energy keeping track of them if I

0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:40.440
<v Speaker 1>don't do them immediately. Well, that's what a list is for.

0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:43.640
<v Speaker 1>When it's on a list that you know you'll look at,

0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:46.680
<v Speaker 1>you won't forget these items. And when you do have

0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.720
<v Speaker 1>a time for them, say two o'clock on Friday afternoon,

0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.320
<v Speaker 1>you know you'll do them. Things put on a list

0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:56.400
<v Speaker 1>to be done at a certain time don't weigh on you.

0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:01.160
<v Speaker 1>They become like an upcoming dental appointment. It's on your calendar,

0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:05.440
<v Speaker 1>ready to happen, but its existence doesn't exactly keep you

0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:09.279
<v Speaker 1>from living a productive life. So if you have a

0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:13.320
<v Speaker 1>lot of little things to do, consider making a Friday

0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:18.480
<v Speaker 1>punch list. You'll tackle these items on Friday. You'll get

0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.640
<v Speaker 1>your deep work done and then clear the decks too.

0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:28.160
<v Speaker 1>In the meantime. This is Laura, thanks for listening, and

0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:37.920
<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody,

0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.200
<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.880
<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:48.320
<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.

0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:53.320
<v Speaker 1>That's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.040
<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:00.680
<v Speaker 1>podcast at iHeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is

0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:03.520
<v Speaker 1>spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I

0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:11.599
<v Speaker 1>look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:14.880
<v Speaker 1>production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I

0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:18.800
<v Speaker 1>heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:20.920
<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.