The Only Six Things You Should Be Doing

Replace all your productivity system with this.

To-do list myopia, the disease of our generation of knowledge workers.

Well, let’s get you unstuck. There’s only six things you should be doing. If you have any item written on your to-do list, it’s in either one of these six categories, or it should go in the trash.

Musts: Things you must do. I have a commitment to get one charity deal for GiveGetWin out each week; I must do the relevant work to do that. Taxes are a must. You must invoice your client to get paid. Let’s not get too philosophical here; there are some things you must do, and you do them because you must. Don’t put too many things into this category, most things aren’t musts. Big Gains: Brian Sharp and Greg Nance are incredibly good people worth knowing. Having met them was an incredible boon to my life. Anything that lets me meet more people like Sharp and Nance are big gains. So are getting contracts that are pleasurable to run on work I enjoy at high rates. So is doing a great piece of writing that people enjoy and share. Note: Big gains should be calculated as “Expected Value” — meaning, whatever action you’re taking (“ask recent happy client for a referral”) won’t necessarily work, but if doing that action 100 times produces results that are far worth it on average, then doing it is a big gain type action. Easy: Well, why not take easy gains? If the bank wants to give you $100 for signing up for an account that takes 20 minutes and there really isn’t a catch, then go for it. If you’re going to university anyways, applying for a quick scholarship or stipend that takes 10 minutes to apply for is worth it, even if small. Downhill: Doing this type of action once either builds momentum, reduces future costs in time or money, increases success rate or net gains on repeatable action, etc. This is learning a new skill, setting up a weekly review of all your projects, and setting up systems and checklists. Fun: Fun is good, doubly so if paired with one of the above. SaidIWould: The worst reason by itself of the six, but it’s worth being a person of your word. Now hurry up and get it done, and get better at saying no next time.

If it doesn’t fall into one of those six, you really ought to be deleting it. Do the musts, take the big gains, take the easy gains, do actions that make the rest of everything easier, have fun, and keep your word. Delete everything else.

Sebastian Marshall authors The Strategic Review, actionable long-form insights from strategy. You should get a free subscription at http://www.thestrategicreview.net because it’s really, really good. The next monthly issue is out in two days.