1: One of Google Productivity Expert Laura Mae Martin‘s most popular trainings centers around what she calls “The List Funnel.”
We “can think of to-do lists like a funnel,” Laura writes in her book Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing. “Start with the highest level of everything we could possibly do, or want to do, and narrow it down into what we actually will do hour by hour, based on time, energy, and priorities.”
Step #1: We begin by capturing a complete list of all of our tasks, responsibilities, and everything we want to achieve. This is our “Main List.”
Step #2: We select those items we will accomplish this week. This is our “Weekly List.”
Step #3: Then, we create our “Daily List,” which comes from our Weekly List.
“The Daily List is an outline of our day,” Laura writes, “including the most important priorities, when we’ll accomplish them, and tracking of habits we’d like to include daily. . . [It] brings it all together. It’s the WHEN. It’s the go-to place for us to check every day.”
Within the Daily List is an Hour-by-Hour Plan, an agenda for our day, including when every task or action will be performed.
“If we accomplish each Hour-by-Hour as planned,” she observes, “we accomplish all your larger to-do’s one piece, one hour at a time.”
Laura shares that many Googlers create a laminate sheet to create their Daily List, “which they fill out every night with dry-erase markers. Others have turned their whiteboard into a large Daily List template. Many people prefer to keep it as a digital file that they update daily.
“Whatever our preference, the Daily List capture the nitty-gritty and shows individual tasks and meetings that will come together for us to get more done.”
Laura suggests we create our Daily List the night before or as we finish work for the day.
2: The first section of our Daily List is our #1 absolute priority.
“What task do we have to get done each day? Until that item is finished, everything else is a distraction,” Laura notes.
Doing so combats our natural tendency to tackle the small or easy things first on our list because they require less effort or energy.
Bad idea. As author Brian Tracy notes in Eat That Frog!, we benefit from tackling our most difficult/important task first.
“This way, we ride the accomplishment of that for the rest of the day rather than operating under the weight of that unmet responsibility,” Laura writes.
“When I go on a walk in my neighborhood it’s a pleasant route, with one hill,” she shares. “When I go left, the hill is at the beginning of the route; when I go right, it comes toward the end. Anytime I go right I’m thinking the whole time that I still have this huge hill I have to get over! When I go left and get it over with right away, I feel accomplished already and enjoy the rest of the walk.”
Once we have listed our #1 priority, we fill out the section about something we are grateful for. “I find that this adds perspective,” Laura notes. “As I’m moving through my day and through my to-do’s, I love looking up to the top of my list and remembering something that makes me happy that day.”
Next up? A list of other priorities for the day. Once again, these items come directly from our Weekly List for what we had committed to get done that day.
If we’ve created themes for each day of the week [hyperlink to yesterday], we will want to add in any items from that day’s theme.
What if we’re finding it overwhelming to make our list? One strategy is to imagine that it’s the last day before vacation: What would we be sure to complete before leaving? Make that our starting point, Laura recommends.
We will also want to leave room to add action items from that day’s meetings that need to get done before the end of the day.
3: “Most importantly, every item on this other priorities list should have a place on our Hour-by-Hour Plan,” she notes. “If it’s on our list, it’s on our calendar. The Hour-by-Hour Plan should also include anything like a commute, a workout, meetings, time to check and process email, and any other commitments.”
Creating the hour-by-hour plan serves as a “dress rehearsal of how our day will go,” Laura explains. “Our day might not always go exactly as planned, but it will definitely never go as planned if there is no plan.”
Another item on the daily plan is “a few snack-size to-dos. These are small individual to-dos or pieces of our larger action items that take five minutes or less and can be done during those unscheduled breaks that come up during our day,” she writes. “If we realize in the morning that we need to make a quick call to our landlord before the day is out, add it directly to our snack-size to-dos.
“Then, if a meeting ends early, go straight to this list and make that one quick phone call,” Laura suggests. “Did one of our other tasks take less time than we expected? Place that quick online order for that one thing we needed. Having snack-size to-do’s readily available ensures that every minute of our day is used well and keeps us from using any in-between time just trying to figure out ‘what to do next.'”
As the day comes to an end, it’s time to create tomorrow’s Daily List. We carry over any items we failed to complete and strike out items from our Weekly List that are now done.
“This step is so important to make sure that we didn’t commit to do something one day, not get to it, only to lose it out of our system,” she observes. “Things don’t get crossed off the higher list on the List Funnel until they’re completely done, making sure we’re reminded of them in list review if they still need to be completed.”
More tomorrow!
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Reflection:
Am I starting each day defined by my #1 priority, or letting urgency and quick wins dictate what gets my attention?
Action:
Tonight, before finishing work, create tomorrow’s Daily List:
- Identify your single most important task.
- Add a gratitude note at the top.
- List your other priorities (drawn from your Weekly List)—then assign each a slot in an Hour-by-Hour Plan, including snacksized to-dos for in-between moments.
- Use this plan as a “dress rehearsal” for your day, so you’re ready to roll and nothing important slips through the cracks.