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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is that to do means today. When you

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Speaker 1: put something on today's to do list, this should mean

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Speaker 1: you truly intend to do it today. Being disciplined about

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Speaker 1: this rule is one of the best ways to get

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Speaker 1: big things done. Lots of people make to do lists,

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Speaker 1: but we don't all make such lists for the right

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Speaker 1: reasons or allow them to be as useful as they

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Speaker 1: can be. As Christina Shenvy put it on her blog

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Speaker 1: Time for Your Life, the goal of a to do

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Speaker 1: list is not to catalog all the things you would

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Speaker 1: like to do with your life, but to facilitate doing them.

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Speaker 1: The only way to do that is to keep your

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Speaker 1: to do list short and focused. For today's to do list,

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Speaker 1: you should include only the tasks you intend to do

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Speaker 1: and have the capacity to do. Then you should do

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Speaker 1: them today. They reliably cross over to being done. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: I have seen over the years that many people do

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Speaker 1: not approach to do lists this way. They will list

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Speaker 1: scores of things that they will never actually get to.

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Speaker 1: They simply would like to have them done at some point.

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Speaker 1: Clean out the attic, start a book club, revamp my

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Speaker 1: fall wardrobe, update my resume. I think some people even

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Speaker 1: feel a sort of pride in having a long to

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Speaker 1: do list. Maybe they think it means they are full

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Speaker 1: of hopes and ideas. I'm not really sure, but writing

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Speaker 1: lots of tasks on your to do list doesn't get

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Speaker 1: anything done. Instead, it most likely creates guilt and disappointment

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Speaker 1: because it means the things you could do someday and

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Speaker 1: the things you once thought you should do, and all

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Speaker 1: the things you actually have to do are intermingled on

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Speaker 1: your to do list. Since you can't possibly get through

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Speaker 1: everything today, you keep bumping things forward. The act of

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Speaker 1: writing something on the to do list is no longer

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Speaker 1: a choice about priorities. It's really a meaningless action. What's worse,

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Speaker 1: when you have a mile long to do list, what

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Speaker 1: you actually need to do make get lost amid all

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Speaker 1: the other items. You miss what you need to do today,

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Speaker 1: and so you fall further behind. So, instead of having

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Speaker 1: a catch all to do list that is not useful

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Speaker 1: for getting things done, use your to do list to

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Speaker 1: enumerate the things you're committing to do during a specific

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Speaker 1: period of time. So if it's to day's to do list.

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Speaker 1: This is items you will do today. You could also

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Speaker 1: have a weekly or monthly to do list, or assign

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Speaker 1: a few tasks to each day in the coming week.

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Speaker 1: But one way or another, assign a short list of

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Speaker 1: tasks to a specific time. Then, as I've said on

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Speaker 1: this podcast before, think of your to do list as

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Speaker 1: a contract with yourself. When the day comes, you complete

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Speaker 1: the tasks assigned to that day. You end the day

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Speaker 1: with all the tasks crossed off. You can do this

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Speaker 1: because the list is short and reflects your capacity for

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Speaker 1: the day in question. It is not a wish list.

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Speaker 1: It is a to do list telling you what to do,

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Speaker 1: and then you do those things. As for all those

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Speaker 1: other things in life which might be nice to do

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Speaker 1: or you'd like to remember but you don't and to

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Speaker 1: do today, those can be captured on a David Allen

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Speaker 1: style someday maybe list. Just keep a running list somewhere

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Speaker 1: of all the things that sound vaguely appealing. That's where

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Speaker 1: clean the attic, start the book club, and run that

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Speaker 1: marathon can all go. When you write these things down,

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Speaker 1: and particularly if you look at this catch all list frequently,

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Speaker 1: you won't forget about them. But they also won't be

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Speaker 1: hanging over your head when you're trying to keep track

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Speaker 1: of what you actually need to do right away, like

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Speaker 1: rescheduling that dentist appointment or sending your nephew a birthday present.

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Speaker 1: When you know that you're to do list contains only

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Speaker 1: those tasks you truly intend to do in a given

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Speaker 1: time frame, you feel more motivated to move through it.

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Speaker 1: You won't be overwhelmed by the volume of tasks or

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Speaker 1: distracted by two dues that are actually could dues. Instead,

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Speaker 1: the to do list feels doable. This is incredibly satisfying.

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Speaker 1: When you trust yourself to complete all the assigned tasks

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Speaker 1: for a day, you feel confident making lists for the future.

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Speaker 1: You know you'll get big things done. That's better than

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Speaker 1: the vague hopes of a mile long wish list. In

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Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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Speaker 1: making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love

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Speaker 1: to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at before Breakfast pod that's b the number

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Speaker 1: four then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot

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Speaker 1: me an email at before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media

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Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.

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