Capture Your Tasks Effectively
TURN YOUR TO-DO LIST INTO A DONE LIST
‘Video’ <— what does it mean?!?
Pick up a video?
What is a video?
Where can you watch a video?
Who knows!
Guess what – your brain doesn’t know either
Your brain looks at this single word, wondering what to do with it
If this is how you capture tasks, stop it
- The number of unanswered questions about a task placed on your to-do list like this will affect your ability and desire to complete it:
- Presentation?!?
- Trip?!?
- Proposal?!?
Here are 3 ways to turn to-do’s into done’s
Verbs – These signal to your mind and body that it’s time to get into ‘action mode’
Details – These provide clarity and remove resistance to taking action
Deadlines – These increase your level of motivation to take action
Capture tasks the right way
- Example: 30 mins: Write a blog post about how to turn a to-do list into a done list:
- Write – Is a verb that describes the action required to complete the task
- Write a blog post about… – Provides details about the goal of the task
- 30 mins – Gives the task a mini-deadline to fuel taking action on it
CHALLENGE/NEXT ACTIONS
Update your to-do list,
or begin a new list following these guidelines for each action item on the list:
- Begin it with an action word (Words) – Create, make, review, write, record, organize, etc.
- Be specific about what needs to be done (Words) – So specific and detailed that you could hand the task off to someone else and they would know exactly what to do
- Include an estimated amount of time it will take to complete – A close estimation is good enough
