These are my notes on how to prioritize when you’re overwhelmed by your to-do list.
Summary
I pasted the email content into ChatGPT with the instructions to “Summarize the key points of a productivity email in a plain language that is simple, easy-to-understand for an 8th-grader with a learning disability and an ASL-friendly manner.”
- To-do lists can feel too long. You cannot finish everything.
- Eisenhower Principle = a way to sort tasks by importance and urgency.
- Urgent = needs attention now.
- Important = helps you reach goals.
Four lists:
- Important + urgent → do first (ex: homework deadline, client project).
- Important + not urgent → plan for later (ex: exercise, meditation, date night).
- Not important + urgent → time wasters that interrupt (ex: random calls, surprise visitors).
- Not important + not urgent → pure distractions (ex: video games, binge-watching, scrolling social media).
How to use:
- Focus most of your time on List 1 and List 2.
- Do less of List 3 and List 4.
- If no time, drop them. They do not help your goals.
Bottom line:
Sort tasks into these four groups. Work on the important ones first. This keeps you from feeling buried under too many tasks.
Email content
Hey Mark,
Ever had one of those days when your to-do list is a mile long and there’s just not enough time to do everything?
Making matters worse, people keep demanding your attention and asking for your help.
Yeah, we’ve all had those days. Frustrating, right?
That’s when it becomes critical to prioritize tasks. If we don’t, we risk getting buried under a mountain of to-do items, some of which aren’t even important to us.
Today, I’m going to share a method for separating the stuff you must get done from the stuff that only seems consequential.
It’s not my method. It springs from something former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower said back in the 50s.
He said, “I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.“
That became known as the Eisenhower Principle. And it’s a terrific way to manage your workload, whether you’re at home or in the office.
Here’s how it works…
URGENT describes things that need your attention right now.
IMPORTANT describes things that’ll help you to achieve a desired outcome.
With that in mind, create the following four lists:
1. Important and urgent
2. Important but not urgent
3. Not important but urgent
4. Not important and not urgent
Next, assign every to-do item to one of these four lists.
List #1 is reserved for tasks that not only demand your immediate attention, but will also help you to reach your goals. If you’re a student, this might mean finishing an assignment on deadline. If you work from home, it could include finishing a project for a client.
List #2 is where you’ll put tasks that’ll help you to achieve your goals, but don’t require your attention at this moment. Examples include exercising, meditating, or planning a date night for you and your spouse.
List #3 is for tasks that demand your immediate attention, but contribute nothing toward your goals. At the office, this might include random phone calls or coworkers who stop by to chat. At home, this could include a friend or family member who stops by unannounced.
List #4 is for distractions. It’s for the stuff you WANT to do that won’t contribute to any desired outcome. Stuff that’s neither urgent nor important. This is where you’ll put things like binge-watching Grey’s Anatomy or The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, playing Fortnight or Minecraft, or catching up on Instagram.
You’ve done the hard part. Now, it’s just a matter of focusing your attention.
Spend the majority of your time and energy completing tasks found on List #1 and List #2. That’s where you’ll have the greatest impact. If you have time left over, address the stuff on the other two lists.
And if you don’t have time (or energy) for them, don’t be afraid to let them go. After all, they’re not going to help you to reach your goals.
Let’s Sum It UpSome tasks are important. Some are urgent. Some are both. And some are neither.
Allocating your time accordingly will prevent you from getting overwhelmed when you have more demands on your time than time itself.
Talk soon,
Damon