There is so much to do! How can I get this all done? I mean, really! Look at this to-do list. It’s ridiculous. It felt great to create the list. It was an accomplishment in and of itself. All I needed to do was get it done, and everything would be clear. The path to peace of mind, satisfaction, fulfillment, whatever, would be in my grasp. Moreover, you would find it through a comprehensive, all-encompassing to-do list.
When we finish that list we experience the same “Spark of Joy” Marie Kondo notes when we organize our drawers or clean out our closets. I’m not at all kidding when I say that after being inspired by Marie Kondo, I spent some time thinking about my kitchen drawers. The result was something I admired for the next several days. I could open my junk drawer, my utensil drawer, and my container drawer and find what I needed, blindfolded. Spark of Joy indeed! Each act of tidying up required some serious thought and a decision about what to keep.
However, what of our to-do lists? Well, these require a similar kind of approach as in evaluating the worthiness of our open loops. They demand careful curation.
Isaiah Hankel. Ph.D. in his influential book “The Science of Intelligent Achievement - How Smart People Focus, Create and Grow their way to Success” identifies the items on our to-do lists as “ Open Mental Loops.” Our most valuable commodity is our Mental Energy, and massive, uncharted to-do lists tend to sap us of this elemental resource.
Consider taking a full day to gather all of your “open mental loops” in one place. Just like cleaning out your garage, unearth everything and get a good look at the whole mess. Take each item into your hand and apply the 4 D’s:
Delete: It just doesn’t matter
Do: Immediately Actionable
Delegate: Someone else should be doing this for you
Defer: There isn’t enough information, enough time, or enough urgency - Something for future reference.
As you get more clarity, you will manage all of these open mental loops much more effectively. Moreover, you will better preserve your valuable mental energy reserving it for those creative, challenging "first thing in the morning" projects. Ultimately this will boost your PRODUCTIVITY and effectiveness.
One of the most challenging things for any of us is to say "no" more often. Some studies have shown that the world's highest performers say no to new projects, commitments, and time drains over 85% of the time. Most of us have risen to a certain point in our lives because serving is part of our value system. But when we become diffuse in our efforts, our ability to maximize what we can accomplish by leaning into our core value of "service" is diminished. If we were only to focus on the top 15% of our ideas, we could accomplish so much more stuff that matters. But focus and deep work are becoming rarer with time. Needless, valueless distractions themselves are overwhelming many of us. Sometimes, to focus, we need a little help.
If you'd like to schedule a Productivity Discovery session with me, click on the link below! Trust me when I say that there is massive upside potential no matter how productive you think you are.
Be well, dear reader.
