We all do it. We schedule something for a given day but run out of time (or energy) and push it to another day. That’s normal. If you rarely do that, you might not be getting as much done as you could. If you frequently do it, however, you might be trying to do more than you can handle. 

There is a sweet spot where you’re not doing too much or too little. But that’s a discussion for another day. 

Right now, a simple suggestion for you regarding what to do about tasks you postpone too often. 

Start by asking yourself why you keep postponing the task or project. Is it because it’s not that important to you, or not as important as other things you need to do? Is this task too difficult (right now)? Or tasks you find boring or otherwise unpleasant?

Because there are different options for each reason.

If you don’t see the value in doing the task, at least not in the short term, you might postpone it again (without feeling guilty about it), put it on a “someday” list, or delete it entirely. 

If the task is overwhelming, unpleasant, or too difficult, you might delegate all or part of it to someone who has more experience with that type of task or more time to do it. Or make the task easier to do, or at least easier to start, by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable steps. 

What if the task is too easy and you’re bored at the thought of doing it? You could make it more challenging or interesting by changing the way you do it. 

For example, instead of researching a project by piling through a bunch of books or articles, you might sign up for a course that shows you what to do step-by-step Or partner up with someone who does the parts you don’t like while you do others.

You could change the subject of a boring or unfulfilling task, e.g., writing a paper, to a different or more interesting subject.  

You could also expand the scope of a boring task and make it more challenging and/or more valuable. If you continually postpone outlining part of a presentation, for example, you might expand that into outlining the entire presentation.

Another idea is to change the software or tool you use, the newness of which should be more interesting and/or more challenging.

Once you know why you continually postpone a task, you can change that task, reframe how you think about it or how you go about doing it. It could be exactly what you need to do things you don’t want to do.

If you’re like most people, when you make a list of tasks for the day, you look at your calendar, your list of tasks with an approaching deadline, incomplete tasks from the day before, and things you’d like to finish (or start) soon, and there’s your list. 

There are two potential problems with this approach. 

First, your list might be too big to do in a day. Too many tasks, or tasks that take more time or energy than you have available, are overwhelming. And when you don’t do most or all of the tasks on your list, disappointing. 

Better to have a list of “too few” than “too many”. A short list is a list that gets done. 

Second, your list might not prioritize your most important tasks—the ones that provide the most value. 

A better way to make your list for the day (or every day) is to start by choosing a number—the number of tasks for the day. 

Let’s say you decide that a good day for you means doing 5 tasks (not counting small, recurring, or routine tasks). 5 tasks that move the needle. 

Starting with a small number, a constraint, forces you to choose your most important tasks. You’ll have a more productive day doing 5 important tasks instead of (trying to do) 10 or 12 tasks. 

I usually start my list with 2 or 3 MITs (Most Important Tasks), and a few other things I’d like to do if I have the time. But if I “only” do my most important tasks, I consider it a good day. And it usually is. 

I read an article by a guy who has eliminated weekly reviews from his workflow. He says they never worked for him:

1. It took too much of his time and mental bandwidth to do them,
2. It was tedious in the extreme and he had to force himself to do it, and
3. It’s more productive to be “executing” than reviewing,

Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have that weekly chore (and could still get your work done)? 

But how? How do you ensure you’re keeping the right balls in the air and doing everything you need to do? 

One way he does that is to review everything that needs reviewing at the time he captures it. A few seconds while it’s fresh in his mind. 

Basically, that means looking at it and thinking about it long enough to decide if (and where) to file it or tag it to work on in the ordinary course of his work.

I guess you could describe this as a 30-second review, done one small item at a time. 

Anyway, by doing it immediately instead of saving everything to process later, he spares himself from looking at everything once a week at a time when he may have forgotten why he captured it. 

Do it (review it) immediately and be done with it. 

This means he no longer has to go back through the previous week’s tasks, notes, and documents, and recall what they are and recall what he thought about each one some days ago. Sorta a “touch once” rule.

But, if the item or task requires more than a few seconds to think about, fix or work on, he schedules time to do that. Time to “do” it, not review it (because he’s already done that). 

What do you think? 

What I think is that as tempting as it would be to eliminate the weekly review, I’m not sure I’m ready to do that. As I wrote recently, I can do a brief weekly review in 15 or 20 minutes and I find this is time well spent.

What I will do as a result of hearing this idea, however, is to be more mindful of the notes and tasks that go into my Inbox at the time I collect them. That means deciding what I think and intend to do with it, and making a few notes about that, at the time I capture it instead of deferring this until the end of the week. 

Processing things on the spot that way might let me get my weekly review down to 5 or 10 minutes. 

The debate rages on. What is the best productivity system, set up, and workflow? What’s the best way to organize your tasks, plan your projects, or structure your week?

And what’s the best app for putting it all together?

If you’re like me, you’ve tried a lot of systems (and apps), and continue to do so because you might find something you like better, or something you can adapt to your current setup. 

It’s also fun to hear what others do. This morning, I read a discussion about this very subject. 

One guy said he has a friend who has used GTD for the last twenty years and he asked him a question about his setup. The friend told him he no longer uses GTD, or any system at all. He writes what he needs to do for the day on a slip of paper. 

That’s his system. 

No lists, contexts, priorities, or tags. And no apps. Just a simple list. 

Shocking, I know, but also refreshing. If you have a piece of paper and a pen, you don’t need anything else. 

Make a list. Do the things on the list. Make a new list the following day. 

You spend no time organizing and reorganizing or manicuring your lists.     

 It reminds of me of the way we used to do things. Before PCs and smart phones. We had a paper calendar and a legal pad, and that was all we needed.  

I wrote my list for the day on my calendar where I could see it alongside appointments and things I wanted to remember. The only prioritizing we did was to put things in the order we needed or wanted to do them. If something was really important or urgent, we’d circle or underline it or write a star next to it. 

And the next day, we’d make a new list. 

Long-term planning? That went on the legal pad, or in a file folder. Long-term dates? Those were put in a big (red) book. 

And it worked. 

And there’s something appealing about this system today. Clean and simple.

No, I’m not going to make this old system my new system. It’s a bit too simple for me now, especially since I know what else is available. And because I like my devices and apps.

But the next time I spend too much time tinkering with my system, and not enough time doing the work, I’m going to remember the way we used to do it, grab some paper and a pen and make a list.  

I like big lists and I cannot lie. I use them every day for everything. Bullet points give me order. Checkboxes give me peace. Lists save me time, keep me from forgetting things, and help me to be more productive. 

Can you relate? 

The other day, I was surprised to hear that Warren Buffet doesn’t make lists. I heard it from the man himself in a video. He says he doesn’t need lists because he knows what he needs to do and wants to do, and that’s what he does. 

And he has so much money, he can do whatever he damn pleases. Okay, I made that part up, but c’mon, we know that’s true. 

What about a calendar? That’s a list. You need to know about upcoming meetings and conference calls and appointments. Does he have someone who keeps that list for him?

What about the agenda when he delivers his annual report to shareholders? That’s a list, isn’t it? Does he read from a printed statement? That’s a list in narrative form, yes?

Anyway, this isn’t about the nitty gritty about what he does and doesn’t do. It’s about me romanticizing the idea of being so comfortable about your situation that you don’t need to make lists to keep you on track. 

I thought about what that would be like and wonder of wonders, I realized that I could actually make that sorta work.

I know the projects I want to work on today and this week. And I will work on them. Without needing to check my list. I know because they are important to me. 

I also know my daily and weekly routine tasks. Without a list and reminders, I might overlook some of them, but I’d get the most important ones done. 

I also know what I want to do after I finish my current projects and wrap up the week. How do I know? My subconscious mind reminds me. It knows what I need to do. And want to do. If it’s important, I won’t forget it. If I forget it, it wasn’t important. 

Maybe Mr. B. is onto something. 

Hold on. David Allen tells us to write down everything, to get it out of our heads and free up cognitive space for creating new ideas and working on them. 

Who’s right? The GTD guy or the weirdo who eats McDonalds every day? 

Tell you what, until I can hang with Mr. B., I’m sticking with Mr. A. 

Because I like big lists and I cannot lie. 

Do you ever find yourself avoiding your weekly review because it takes too long? You’re busy, tired, or have too many other things to finish? 

Me too. 

Which is why I keep a simplified weekly review list to use when I’m pressed for time or otherwise not up to doing a full review.  

I quickly review 4 things: 

1. Calendar
2. Email
3. Projects and Tasks
4. Notes

Here’s what I look at: 

1. Calendar:
   • Review upcoming week to 10 days (appointments, events, scheduled tasks) and note anything I need to re-schedule or prepare. 
2. Email:
   • Respond to short, important messages; flag longer messages and actionable items, or add them to my task app
   • Add reference material, content ideas, to my notes app
   • Delete (almost) everything else
3. Projects and Tasks:
   • Review current/most important projects (not all projects)
   • Make sure each project has Next Action(s) and add these to my task app. 
   • Review upcoming tasks: Delete? Defer? Delegate? Change priority? Add additional tasks?
4. Notes
   • Improve title, clarify key points
   • Add tags and/or links
   • Add links to relevant notes to upcoming tasks
   • File or re-file (in Area of Focus, Project, or Resources)

I give myself 15 minutes and that’s often enough to keep things organized. If I run out of time, I’ll postpone reviewing my notes so I can focus on action items.

How about you? 

Let’s talk about your schedule. The things you put on your calendar, like appointments, conference calls, court appearances, and other time-bound tasks. Things you need to do on a certain day and at a certain time.

Not a lot to say about that. You schedule them so you don’t forget them and you do them. 

But what about everything else? 

What about things you want to do or need to do at some point, perhaps soon, but not necessarily today or this week? What about routine tasks you need to do to keep the wheels greased and the motor running? 

Some people put those on their calendar, too. They schedule time for their morning routine, for example, or block out time during the day to work on a certain project. 

Some people schedule everything. 

They know what they’re going to do today, tomorrow, this week and next. Sometimes, down to the minute.

This is a great way to get things done, but it’s not for me.

What do I do?

I calendar appointments and meetings, of course, but for everything else, I make lists.

Every day, my task app gives me today’s list (based on what I decided to do during a weekly review). At the top are the “must do” tasks, e.g., appointments, etc., and anything else I need to do that day. What you’re reading right now is one of those things. 

Under the must do’s are other things I should do or want to do today, but not necessarily at a specific time. Nor are they “must do’s” so I can do them the next day or in the days to come. 

Finally, there are my routine tasks. Things I try to do every day (or week).

It’s a simple list and, other than appointments and must do’s, everything is a suggestion. 

Actually, it is a very sensible way of working.

I don’t force myself to do anything “now” (unless it’s a must do). I can do it later. 

As long as you do what you need to do, it doesn’t matter when you do it, does it? (If it does matter, it should indeed go on the calendar.)

By the end of the day, I usually finish most of the things on my list. Not everything, but that’s okay. Tomorrow or next week are okay.

If you want to try this, here are some guidelines: 

1. Make your list for tomorrow the night before, after you’ve looked at tomorrow’s calendar.
2. Keep this list short. A few things, not everything. 
3. Keep a second list of things you want to do this week (or so). Keep this short, too. 
4. If you finish today’s list and have time and energy to do more, look at “this week” and choose something else. 
5. Keep additional lists for daily, weekly, and monthly routines. Reference these when you make tomorrow’s list or let an app remind you.  

Working this way allows me to stay productive without pushing myself to do more than I can do, and flexible enough to keep me getting things done.

But maybe tomorrow.