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Get the verbs right

Notice how we’re breaking these Big Nouns into little verbs? That’s deliberate. With that original to-do for your presentation, you might theoretically just keep “preparing” your presentation until some arbitrary alarm bell goes off in your head, saying “Yeah, okay, that looks like a fully-prepared presentation, so you can stop.” But a better-defined chunk of activity suggests a task with clear edges; it has a beginning and an end. This enables you to keep putting one foot in front of the other, ensuring that you always know what to do next, instead of half-assing your way through a badly-defined pile of fuzzy nouns.

This physicality and functional piece-work act in concert to make the planning and execution of your tasks as stress-free and unintimidating as possible. Knowing that every item on your to-do list is a familiar task that can be accomplished before lunch can be wildly empowering. It’s just up to you to ensure that all your work is segmented, shaped, and stacked into units that can fit through the windows that are available to you.

Your work is what you make it

The trick is that these jobs can be made easier long before they’re undertaken by framing and naming them properly and in the right-sized units. As early as the capture and planning phases of this cycle, you hold the power and responsibility for defining your work. Failing to do that well and thoughtfully is a primary cause of hang-ups further down the line. In other words, your work often isn’t difficult because you’re necessarily all that busy, but because you hadn’t taken the time to list it all out in a way that makes it clear and “do-able”. This is so important as you begin actually working on your tasks, when the last thing you want is to wonder whether you’re doing the right thing at the right time.

Anatomy of a To-do

The primary idea of a to-do is that it’s a task that can and should be done–a point that might seem obvious until you start uncovering how many of the items on your to-do list may not belong there (or, conversely, how many uncaptured items do). The best and most useful to-dos share common qualities:

• it’s a physical action
• it can be accomplished at a sitting
• it supports valuable progress toward a recognized goal
• it’s something for which you are the most appropriate person for the job

Glancing at your own to-do list, do you see any potential troublemakers? Notice any items that make you squeamish? Any mystery meat tasks that seem "un-doable" as is? Don’t sweat it. We’re going to have you shaped up in no time.

Why Am I Doing This Task?






This is important. When compiling a list of all the stuff that’s on your mind (and on your plate), it’s crucial to unpack how each task you accept or assign to yourself will support your projects, your roles, and the goals you’ve set for yourself. Before adding a new item, reflect on the value that each chunk of work brings to your world.





• 
  Is this the best use of my time right now?
  
• 
  Am I the best person to do this task?
  
• 
  Is this something that must be done now? Why now?
  
• 
  What happens if I don’t do this at all?
  

If it’s on your list, it’s a commitment

Try to keep this box image forefront in your mind whenever you’re tempted (or compelled) to shovel more work into an already-teeming inbox. Look at each addition to your to-do list as a personal commitment to completing that action. Bear in mind that every minute you spend working on one task is necessarily a minute you cannot spend working on another. So ensure that your to-do list honors these reasonable limits and keeps you focused on the work that’s most valuable to you.

This actually takes a surprising amount of discipline and requires making a kind of deal with yourself; no more treating your to-do list like the hope chest where you toss all the stuff you should be doing or might maybe be doing. The to-do list is a plan, and it’s a contract. If you’re not sure you want to do an item, take it off the list. If you can’t envision what doing the task will look like, off it goes. Jot and doodle someplace else.

The purpose of goal-setting isn’t to control the future.  That would be senseless because the future only exists in your imagination.  The only value in goal-setting is that it improves the quality of your present moment reality.  Setting goals can give you greater clarity and focus right now.  Whenever you set a goal, always ask yourself, “How does setting this goal improve my present reality?”  If a goal does not improve your present reality, then the goal is pointless, and you may as well dump it.  But if the goal brings greater clarity, focus, and motivation to your life whenever you think about it, it’s a keeper.

Many people set goals and then assume the path to reach the goal will require suffering and sacrifice – a recipe for failure.  A better idea is to set a goal and pay attention to the effect it has on your present reality.  Set goals that yield a positive effect on your life whenever you think about them, long before the final outcome is actually achieved.  Treat goal-setting as a way to enhance your present reality, not as a way to control the future.