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A Two Step Process for Managing Your To-Do List During a Pandemic

Apr 7, 2020

My old Chief of Staff, Jay, once told me that the secret to being productive was to make a list of tasks and cross them off.  It seems like simple advice, but when you realize how much motivation it takes to follow, you learn how difficult it can be.

Last week, an article titled “Stop Trying to Be Productive,” made the rounds through the blogosphere.  Much like the subjects of the article, I start off each day filled with enthusiasm for what I can accomplishment.  But many nights, I go to bed having done just the minimum (and maybe only after I redefined what qualified as the minimum).

This week, I decided change that.  Thoughts of being incredibly productive are naive. We all need grace to get through this ordeal, and sometimes we need it most from ourselves.  But what if there was a middle way, a way to be a little more productive within reason?

During law school, I used a two-step system to help keep my studying, working, blogging, and personal tasks on track.  Because spinning so many plates requires a plan.  So this week, in the name of productivity, I decided to bring it back.

Step One: The Minimum + One.  Each night before I close up shop, I make a to-do list for the next day on my Russell + Hazel notepad and list how long each task “should” take next to it.  Here’s a sampling of some from last Wednesday’s to-do list.

+ Life Insurance Paperwork (15-minutes)

+ Re-structure Blog Amazon Page (45-minutes)

+ Clean Bathroom (1-hour)

+ Manage candidate Facebook pages (40-minutes)

+ Write candidate newsletter (45-minutes)

+ Pick Up Laundry Room (15-minutes)

+ Write Blog Posts (3-hours)

Just glancing at the list, all of the tasks seem to be of the same importance.  But obviously, they’re not —  some are for work, some are housework, and some are for the blog.

To visually differentiate between the must dos and the can dos, I highlight all of the  tasks that MUST be done that day in green.   Now, I know what minimum accomplishment looks like and won’t lose an important task in a long list.

+ Life Insurance Paperwork (15 minutes)

+ Re-structure Blog Amazon Page (45-minutes)

+ Clean Bathroom (1-hour)

+ Manage candidate Facebook pages (40-minutes)

+ Write candidate newsletter (45-minutes)

+ Pick Up Laundry Room (15-minutes)

+ Write Blog Posts (3-hours)

Now that I’ve built the floor, I put up the ceiling by choosing two additional tasks for the day.  (Wait a minute… Two?!?  I thought you said one?!)

I did say one, but the trick to consistently completing one task each day is to choose two — one attainable goal and one stretch goal. You aim for the stretch goal, but if all you can mentally muster is enough time and energy for the attainable goal, you’re still doing great.

From that to-do list, my stretch goal was to clean the bathroom.  My attainable goal was to pick up the laundry room.  But as you might imagine, after a long day filled with Zoom calls, I didn’t feel much like stretching.  So while I waited for our dinner to finish cooking, I picked up the laundry room.

I did the minimum, plus one.  Mischief managed.

Step Two: The Sunday List.  The obvious flaw in a system like this is that while you’re doing a bit more each day, some daily tasks will not be completed.  Therefore, those tasks will just be added to tomorrow’s to-do list.  And by the end of the week, you’ll have a list of tasks that you never got around just staring you in the face.  This is where the second step comes in to play.

If a task is still on my list at close-of-business Friday, it moves from the daily to do list to the Sunday List.  And the Sunday List rules all.

Once a daily task is moved to the Sunday List, it must be completed by the time I go to sleep Sunday or abandoned.  Because if I could go through a work week and a weekend without accomplishing the task, it’s time to re-evaluate whether it really needed to get done.  This was this week’s Sunday List, using the same color-coded system to differentiate between must dos, and can dos.

+ Re-structure Blog Amazon Page (45-minutes)

+ Clean Bathroom (1-hour)

+ Bathe Dogs (1-hour)

+ Clean Out Hall Closet (1-hour)

+ Schedule UPS Pickup (15-minutes)

+ Order Groceries (1-hour)

+ Bake Muffins (1-hour)

This week, only the tasks in green were accomplished (and only because I outsourced bathing the dogs to Kyle).  Black tasks were dropped from the list.  Because sometimes there are things that we want to do that we just can’t make time for, and that’s okay.

This two-step process keep me on top of my daily tasks without contributing to a sense of disappointment or failure when things don’t get done.  Sometimes, all I need at the end of the day is to know that I did just one more thing.  And sometimes, all I need on Sunday is to know that it’s okay to let go of the other tasks and start fresh next week.