Personal Productivity: Accomplish 3 Things Today
This is a guest post from Kevin at No Debt Plan, a get out of debt blog. He writes about getting and staying out of debt, investing, and building wealth.
Need to simplify your life and get more tasks accomplished?
Let me start by admitting I am not a productivity guru. In fact I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum — lost in a mountain of piled up papers and organizational chaos. But I’m trying to improve in incremental steps — just as you do with personal finance.
A Simple Productivity Idea
I’ve got a long list of things I need and want to do. I’m sure you have a similar list either written down somewhere, in an e-mail you send yourself, or perhaps just inside your head. We’ve all got things we want to do, but obviously we can’t accomplish everything in one day.
I decided that at some point during the day I would create a list of just three things I wanted to accomplish when I got home from work. I targeted things I wanted to accomplish outside of my “real job” because I have enough to-do lists at work. (Plus the things on my personal list either really need to be done or are things I want to do.)
Three things really doesn’t sound like a lot, but it depends on what you put into the three slots. They could be five-minute tasks or one-hour tasks.
Three Tasks Forces Me to Be Realistic
Having three tasks for each evening forces me to be realistic. If I’ve got 50 items on my list there is no physically possible way I can accomplish all of them in one evening. Instead, focusing on just three helps me set realistic goals for each day.
Those three slots are precious. This helps with prioritization of my tasks. If I truly feel like something is important and needs to get done soon, it must have a spot in one of those three slots. But what if all my slots are ‘filled’ for the day? More on that in second.
Only Three Tasks Prevents Being Overwhelmed
This is a big key for me. When you’ve got a long list of to-dos it can be so overwhelming to look at that you end up with decision paralysis. You get overwhelmed and decide that doing nothing is simply easier regardless that you have things that really need to be done. Here’s a snapshot of what my overall list looks like:
- clean out e-mail inboxes
- setup database backup for wife’s blog
- mow yard
- finish wills and other estate planning documents
- set up blogging businesses for electronic estimated tax payments
- bring flowers home for my wife
- write tomorrow’s article for No Debt Plan
- go jogging with dog
- (30 other things go here)
It’s overwhelming. Some of those items are very boring — like setting up estimated tax payments and finishing our wills. (Important, but boring.) Now imagine the list looks like this: Today:
- mow yard
- setup database backup
- write tomorrow’s article
I haven’t made a significant change to the list, but by having just three items I suddenly feel like I can accomplish these things. I have a focus. I have a daily goal.
What My New Task List Looks Like
I’m looking for something minimal that I can carry around with me. I grabbed an index card out of my desk and jotted down the date with three short-hand words to remind me of the task.
Although the index card is portable (nice), it’s also pretty flimsy. I don’t want to invest in some sort of a notebook until I can prove to myself that I can continue to track my tasks in this manner.
Another benefit of using an index card: making changes is obviously very simple. If something pops up in my life that trumps the importance of one of the top three tasks, I can simply bump one of those tasks to another day.
This tip may not blow your mind. Maybe you are already deep into GTD. Then again maybe you’re a newbie like me that has a stack of papers on his desk that need to go somewhere, anywhere.
Three tasks at a time. Day by day digging through your list. It’s worked for me… maybe it will work for you.
If you enjoyed this post then check out No Debt Plan for insight into your personal finance issues.
Photo by Jeffrey Beall
great article!!, your life really does seem super charged…good work…
mohit´s last blog ..Not without my Dopatta
Kind of like Zen Habits three big rocks idea. I think it does help focus and remove the pressure which really helps in the short run.
One suggestion though is that you still have to have a bigger plan and guiding principles and regularly weigh them against the tasks you want to do. It is easy to get caught up in having to ‘do’ too much. I find that I can go for months accomplishing a lot, but never really getting anywhere. If I don’t take time to ask the ‘where am I going’, ‘why’, and ‘what things will get me there’ I find that my to do list loses its purpose, even if I am checking lots of things off.
The Happy Rock´s last blog ..The End My Rope – When Trying Harder Just Isn’t Good Enough
Great post. I always have a list of “to do’s” going. This article was a great reminder of how beneficial they can be. Thanks!
Jake
Jake | Revive Your Life´s last blog ..Release the Pressure: More Healthy Heart Tips
Jeff, I used to be into GTD and everything else. Now I keep it simple. Just a few, usually around three MIT’s every day. Simple and effective. I love it.
Stephen – Rat Race Trap´s last blog ..Where Are You Now?
Hi Jeff,
I am a full-time student. I work full-time. I am an animal rights activist and I am moving next week. My to-do list is rather long right now. I was going to take last night off until I read your article. I made my list of three things and accomplished 2 of them last night. I feel so much better! Excellent idea.
When your to do list is longer than your arm, it can be so easy to take one look and not bother with it because there is just too much. When facing monumental tasks, I often remind myself of an old children’s joke. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
WP´s last blog ..3 Rules of Cell Phone Etiquette
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