TO-DO LIST FORMULA by Damon Zahariades | Core Message

foreign [Music] ly read the doulas formula by Damon Zaharias I have a love-hate relationship with to-do lists I love them because they allow me to get things off my mind and focus on one task at a time I hate them because they consistently make me feel like a failure and I'm not alone here according to I'd done this a popular productivity app the average person fails to complete 41 of the items on their to-do list and I hate to-do lists because they get excessively long and cluttered with insignificant tasks this last hate is a common complaint of people who try the popular GTD getting things done system gdd is an awesome to-do system for getting things out of your head and on to next action lists but it's not great at differentiating between high and low value tasks in the book to-do list formula Damon Zaharias presents a method to help us get stuff out of our heads and into a well-organized master to-do list system where we can quickly identify our hits high impact tasks at the condensed zahras's Master to-do list system into three acronyms which fit inside a 3X3 Master to-do list system Matrix mmm Ace lll the mmm acronym explains how to sort your to-do's the ace acronym explains how to write your to-do's in the lll acronym explains how to label and filter your to-do's first the mmm sorting method every task you put into your Master to-doist System either needs to go on a major project list miscellaneous list or maybe list create a separate to-do list for every major project you're working on like organizing the house planning a trip to Hawaii or building a website when you have Project Specific to-do lists the resistance to working on any one project decreases because you have a list of next steps ready and waiting for you in one convenient location it's like starting to cook a recipe with all the necessary ingredients laid out on the counter rather than having to search through the fridge all Standalone non-project tasks go in a miscellaneous list don't overthink it if you can't easily connect a task to a project just put it on the miscellaneous list having a miscellaneous list lets you capture tasks quickly and get them off your mind now every task you add to your major project lists or miscellaneous list must have a deadline if you're not ready to assign a deadline to a task or a task is unclear put it on the maybe list then schedule time to revisit your maybe list once a week or once a month to see if you're ready to apply a deadline to a few items and move them to a major project list or the miscellaneous list now some people like to have a forth list a waiting for a list but to me a waiting for list is overkill because I write emails to anyone I need something from and use an email management software service called sanebox to automatically keep track of emails I'm willing to hear back from in a separate folder I also use sandbox to produce my email overwhelm by teaching it to direct incoming emails that don't need my attention today to a later folder I'm consistently surprised how well the same box is AI can distinguish between what matters now and what can weigh sandbox we're sponsoring this video is offering a free trial with a 25 future credit to all productivity game viewers if you're interested click the link in the description below to try sandbox now let's cover the ace formatting acronym every task you put in your master to-do list system must have the same three-part structure active verb bracket commitment Dash expected resolve starting every task with an active verb makes your to-do lists less ambiguous and more actionable just compare Chloe's birthday cake expense report car tires with buy Chloe's birthday cake finished expense report rotate car tires the second to-do list is simply easier to imagine and seemingly easier to do Damon Zaria says the verb triggers something in the brain prompting it to focus on completing the item after you've written down a task starting with an active verb add a time commitment in Brackets adding a time commitment to each task forces you to consider the total time required to complete a task which makes you a more effective planner for example meet Steve to discuss the company Rebrand May initially seem like a 30-minute task but when you factor in the time to prepare for the meaning time it takes to get to the meeting and a time to write a post meeting summary email meet with Steve to discuss company Rebrand is a 90-minute commitment adding estimated time commitments also turns your tasks into fun challenges because you can't help but think how can I do this test quicker than the estimated time now the last thing you need to ask yourself when writing a task in your master to-do list system is what is the expected result for example buy Chloe's birthday cake bracket 30 minutes Dash Chloe has a great birthday finished expense report bracket 15 minutes Dash reimbursed rotate card tires bracket 45 minutes Dash tires last longer when you add expected results to your tasks your to-do list goes from things you should do to things you want to do and ending your tasks with expected results allows you to easily select important tasks because you can quickly see which tasks move you closer to your goals now let's talk about the lll labeling system you will greatly enhance your to-do list system if you add three labels to your task one possible location labels a low energy label and a less than 15 minutes label now depending on the to-do list application you use these labels might be colored Flags or tags and if you can't use labels or don't like using labels then just create three additional lists first assign a location label to tasks you must do in a specific location for instance job site for a construction manager weekly team meeting for an office manager or client office for a sales manager I label all my errands with a general location label so I can quickly find them while doing errands around town next add a low energy label to simple tasks that require minimal mental effort like repetitive Administration work when you don't feel like working but you need to get stuff done you can filter tasks by low energy and get a list of tasks you can attack in a zombie-like state and lastly assign a less than 15 minutes label to every task you can complete in under 15 minutes labeling short tasks will allow you to hide those tasks when you make your daily to-do list so that you add longer more significant tasks to your daily to-do list first think of it like hiding snack food so you don't fill up before a nice meal at a restaurant labeling tasks that take less than 15 minutes will also give you a list of tasks you can batch execute to save time tests like phone calls errands and emails now if you use this 3x3 Master to-do list system Matrix your tasks will be sorted formatted and filtered in a way that will make it easy to create a daily to-do list filled with high impact tasks some people like to make their daily to-do list inside a to-do list app on their phones others like to use their calendars I like to use a simple index card and pin I put no more than seven high impact tasks on the front of the index card then write down a few tasks that take less than 15 minutes on the back of the card and circle items I can batch execute then I add approximate starting times next to each task on my card and leave buffer time in between each morning I go back into my digital Master to-do list system on my phone and clear the completed items before populating the current day's to-do list this to-do list formula keeps me calm and focused because I know I'm not just getting stuff done but getting the right stuff done that was the core message that I gathered from to-do list formula by Damon zahariats this is a short book filled with great time management tactics I highly recommend it if you would like a one-page PDF summary of insights that I got from this book just click the link below and be happy email to you if you already subscribed to the free productivity game email newsletter this PDF is sitting in your inbox this video was sponsored by sanebox which you can try out by clicking the link in the description below as always thanks for watching and have yourself a productive week

Channel: Productivity Game

Views: 34,066

Keywords: To-Do List Formula, To-Do List Video, Todo lists, how to make a todo list, todo list, How to make a to-do list, To-Do List Formula Book, Todo list formula book, todo list formula book summary, Todo List Formula Summary, To-Do List Formula Summary, To-Do List Formula Book Summary, To-do List Formula by Damon Zahariades, To-Do List Formula Book PDF, To-Do List Formula Book Video, To-do List Formula Summary PDF, To-Do List Formula Audiobook, Damon Zahariades

Id: ECvbLbtJRUI

Length: 8min 22sec (502 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 30 2023