two simple steps

Advertisements often seek to persuade you that the solutions they offer require no effort on your part. They do this using familiar phrases like “click of a button” or “just spray and wipe” that sweep away the effort required for the specific actions. You are free to use the same technique to support any course of action you have chosen for yourself. Phrases like “Design and build” or “Just show up and talk to people” can make what seemed like a daunting initiative look more simple and obvious.

more picky

Clearing a backlog is a matter of raising your standards. Get rid of the projects that are a waste of time. Still too many? Start getting rid of the ones that are neither essential nor amazing. Go on from there.

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.

late additions

When you can’t do what you had planned, choose something else.

optimized

If it takes a lot more time to do something efficiently, that’s not efficient.

below the horizon

Don’t invest much of your energy into things you cannot do today or tomorrow.

planner

If just thinking about the work ahead makes you feel tired, then do that planning shortly before bedtime.

opening

There is a way to do each thing you are imagining, but you might not be able to see it until you get the plans, doubts, worries, theories, and compromises out of the way.

what or where

When you don’t know what you own, you can’t write a list of the clutter you want to remove. You may still be able to plan and structure clutter clearing around the spaces you control.

in the wind

There are times when a roll of the dice will produce a better course of action than any plan your conflicted mind can come up with.

no list

Address the first problem that calls for your attention. You won’t have to look far.

capsule

Chaotic times call for shorter, simpler plans.

not today

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

forks

Any plan, however well intentioned, carries the shadows of the people who created the plan. Incorporate randomness into a plan so that you can break out of the box or get out of the rut that the plan puts you in.

automatic

Set things up so that they will succeed even when you are not paying close attention.

fade to gray

Time washes away all plans.

onward

Sometimes one plan is enough.

loaded

The more uncertain the world is, the less it makes sense to keep things for the future.

committed

Sometimes finishing a project is less work than cleaning up the materials you were planning to use.

plan A

If you plan for a hundred contingencies, it is a sign that you don’t believe in your ability to deliver on the original plan.