Today I am going to tell you something that you already know, and I'm also going to give you permission to do something about it.
Here's what you already know: Your to-do list is too long. You know that. You know that because every evening, most of it is still there. You know that because it never really feels like you're making progress. There are all kinds of ways to tackle this issue and we may not solve it today, but we can make progress.
A few weeks ago, when we talked about scheduling tasks, I reminded you that tasks take time. And that even though we don't schedule our tasks like meetings, we really should, because they can take up just as much, or even more, time.
If you're not scheduling your tasks, there's a very good chance that your to-do list, or task list, is too long, because you're not keeping in mind how much time they take. You just keep adding and adding things because either there's room on the page to write more things, or because your brain keepings thinking of things that need to get done.
So I want to take just a quick moment to tell you about two very magical solutions to this problem, and the first one is this: tomorrow. After today is over, there will be a tomorrow. You're allowed to turn the page and add things to tomorrow's task list if today's is getting too long. Which leads me to the second solution: Not everything must get done today.
Now, for some of you, this is so much easier said than done because you just want to get everything done. If we just scan our to-do list, everything can look like it's equal priority, but we know it's not. (We'll cover this more in a couple of weeks when we talk about how important does not equal urgent.)
Ok, we've established the fact that there is a tomorrow. And I know, there are things that need to get done tomorrow as well. So what do you do? What can you do differently? We're going to start by zooming out.
At the beginning of each week, we're going to zoom out and look at our week as a whole. This helps us to approach the week as a whole block of time, instead of each individual day. I recommend looking at your calendar in some sort of hourly format (think how Google Calendar is set up). This will allow you to see your appointments and how much "physical" space they take up. This is especially helpful for my visual thinkers.
Now, you'll probably notice that some days are fuller than others. Some days, you'll have more appointments, and some days your time will be more flexible. Now create a to-do list for the week. For the whole week. This isn't everything that needs to get done by Monday night. This is for the week.
Identify if any of those tasks have to get done on/by a specific day. These are deadlines other people have set, and other required scheduled tasks. (If it helps, write the day next to the task.)
Now, your task list should look something like the picture on the left. Just a list of random
tasks, no specific order or categories, but there should be a day written next to the ones that heave deadlines. Everything else, well, the deadline is the end of the week. (Unless it's something that is a running task that can be accomplished later, I'd write that somewhere else.) Now, as you look at your week, you can see that there are days when you can fit more tasks, and days where you can't. I like to start by creating a "Top 3" for each day, starting with the tasks I've assigned to that day. If we used this image as an example, you can see that two of my "Top 3" for Tuesday would be Sermon Outline and Talk Sheets - MS, because I wrote Tuesday next to them. Do the same for each day. Now, what you're left with are your floating tasks, these are tasks that can be assigned to any day. Your temptation will be to front-load your week. Unless those are your least-busy days, don't. The fear will be that more tasks will be added during the week, and you won't have time to accomplish it all. I get that. The truth is, some of those tasks can be added to the next week. Now plug in the remaining floating tasks to days of your week, depending on your time availability. If you're unsure, write the floating tasks on a sticky note that you can move around.
Now, you need a place to add the tasks that roll in during the week. Absolutely. You have a couple of options, and none of them are "add them all to the current day." Why? Because tomorrow you will turn the page and you're going to see a blank page, and you're going to fill that one as well. And unless you're migrating your unfinished tasks each day to the next day, dumping all of your tasks on one day just doesn't work.
One option: Sticky note. Something that isn't tied to a specific day, because the tasks aren't tied to a specific day. This can be moved around as you move from day-to-day.
Second Option: Find a place on your desk, or whatever your workspace looks like, to keep a list like this. This needs to be a set location where this can always be. (I actually keep a second notebook with running tasks, that's small enough to go with me wherever I go.) Whatever it looks like, it needs to be something that can be reviewed at the end of the day (to cross anything off), and at the beginning of the day (to see what's left).
I cannot stress how important it is for this list to exist outside of any daily task list. Let's go over 5 Reasons:
Too many tasks on one day is overwhelming to look at. When you don't finish them all, you won't feel accomplished, and that dopamine hit you'll get from crossing one or two things off, won't make up for the overwhelm and disappointment of not getting more done.
It's easy to lose tasks this way. They get lost in a sea of everything.
Creating that weekly task list helps you go into your week with a general idea of what needs to be done.
It will start to train your brain to remember that tasks take time. And you don't have an infinite amount of time today.
This will help you to see the whole week as a block of time, rather than everyday being a deadline for everything.
I'll just end with a reminder: Everything does not need to get accomplished today. Everything can't be accomplished today. Let's plan for that reality.