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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is to keep your to do list short. Not only does a short to do list increase the chances that you make progress toward your goals, you'll feel a lot better about them too. It probably won't surprise anyone listening to this that I love to make to do lists. When I planned my weeks on Friday afternoons, I set my major goals for the week professionally and personally. Then each evening I make my to do list for the next day of what needs to get done by the time I go to bed. I write down anything time specific that I've committed to, and then also assign myself a handful of other tasks informed by my weekly priorities. Note that word handful, we are talking three to five things. We are not talking twenty things or fifty things, which is what I used to do. Here's why I've learned to keep the list as short as possible. So I pride myself on being a trustworthy person. I imagine you do too, and part of being trustworthy is keeping the promises we make to ourselves. If I put something on my to do list, I am committing to do it. I am committing to do it before the day is through. But wait, people say, what if things come up? Well, guess what. This is not an if. This is an inevitability. Because emergencies happen and things go wrong. Things can go massively right as well, but sometimes that takes time to Consequently, the only way to guarantee that I will keep my promise to myself and do the things on my to do list is to keep my to do list short. This seems straightforward, but I found over the years that a lot of people really resist this idea. They'll say things like, Laura, I have so much going on. I can't just put three to five things on my to do list. I have fifty things to do. But guess what, you won't do fifty things tomorrow. You'll do some of those things, but were they the things that truly needed to get done, or maybe they were just the ones you saw first, or that seemed easiest, or that someone yelled the loudest about Making a short list forces you to prioritize. If the day goes great and you get through that list and have extra time. Awesome, Go find some other stuff. I'm sure you can come up with plenty to do. But here's the thing. There is no virtue in putting something on a to do list and then not doing it. It's just as not done as if you never put it on your list at all, and in fact it's worse than that. If you put it on your to do list and don't do it, you feel bad, whereas if you didn't put it on your list and you didn't do it. Expectations have met reality, and this is really the secret to happiness. Now. Of course, we all have more than three to five things that were responsible for in the universe, so a lot of people find it helpful to keep running lists of other things they need to do at some point, but not right now. Bullet journal fans might make these lists as collections. Getting things Done author David Allen's readers use his suggestion of a some day maybe list. I make these speculative lists from time to time. Two in my planner. These are house projects I might want to tackle, things to do with my kids, seasonal activities, future podcast ideas, people to reach out to, book concepts, whatever. If there's something I decided to commit to in the future, I'll put it on my calendar for that day, and then it will become part of that day's to do list or list of time specific commitments. But there's no point thinking about it tomorrow and cluttering up my mental landscape for tomorrow when I plan to tackle it in two months, three to five. Things might not seem like much, but I promise it does add up. In one of my books, Off the Clock, I tell the story about my friend Damon Brown, who spent some time as the primary parent for his young son a few years ago. Because he was caring for an infant all day, his time was obviously limited. However, he also had a few professional opportunities he really wanted to tackle during this time, such as co founding a company, so he started writing his to do list for the day on an index card one side of an index card. If it took up more than one side of the card. He knew he had too much on his plate and it wasn't going to happen around his baby responsibilities. Better to push it into the future. But after a few months of this, he looked at his life and realized he was being shockingly productive three to five well chosen activities per day is a lot. I mean three per day is fifteen per work week. That's seven fifty per year. And if they all matter well, you could probably conquer the world. So today, look at your to do list with this in mind, what do you actually intend to do today and what amounts to a point less expectation that will just make you feel bad. Choose three to five things you will truly hold yourself to doing. Assign other things to other times. Pretty soon you'll be feeling less busy and getting more done. In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. M Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. 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