noisy day

When your day is too busy, the first activities to cut are the ones you cannot do in an atmosphere of distration.

known doer

Imagine that no one knew who you were. What things would you no longer feel you needed to do? Could it be that many of those things are not necessary even though there are people who know who you are?

artifact

A to-do list does you no good if you never look at it and forget it exists.

fighting through resistance

If you work a to-do list in the most natural way, you complete the items for which you have little or no resistance first, then the items that present moderate resistance. Before long all that is left is a list full of resistance.

cue cue

The more things you commit to doing, the more likely it is that you will not remember one of those things when the perfect moment to do it arises.

fantasy vs. real

Write a fantasy to-do list. Load it up with anything anyone might want you to accomplish and anything that would feel good to say you had done. Then set that list aside and write a real to-do list, one that contains slightly less than you can do in one day.

least but not least

Something that takes only a short time can be the most important thing you do all day.

X

Cross off half of your to-do list to make room for the thing you really wish you could be doing.

heaps

The more you have to do, the harder it is to believe that you can complete it all.

spiraling

All the time you spend saying what you need to do is time you are not spending doing any of those things.

free+bold

It is easier to be bold when you have a short list.

true core

Every time you let go of something that isn’t true to who you are, you strengthen your sense of self.

cut loose

Free yourself from your to-do list one item at a time.

leeway

It gets easier to get your schedule under control after you reduce the time demands below 15 hours per day. Then you can rearrange the schedule in small ways and still get a full night of sleep.

listed

Putting sleep on the to-do list doesn’t increase the chance that you will actually do it.

not today

With wishful thinking, a cancellation can be described as a postponement.

sci-fi

Don’t keep a goal on your list because of a story around what it will mean.

unwritten ruled

It is still a to-do list even if you refuse to commit it to paper.

head above water

Put in the small push that it takes to go from slightly behind to slightly ahead, and you discover a new world of leverage.

prelude

Start with a task that is easy or comfortable to build confidence and momentum.