How to Finish Your Work, One Bite at a Time | Scott H Young

The heading for this section might seem pretty self-explanatory. Write out your weekly list and your daily lists, finish them, repeat. But after using this approach for a few months, there are a few nuances you might want to consider.

The point of the weekly list is to serve as the starting point for writing daily lists. After you've broken off the chunk you want to handle tomorrow, the other tasks in the week shouldn't be on your mind. You can pretend they don't exist, as if the only tasks in the world were the ones tomorrow.

This approach is an incredible stress-reliever. It's easy to worry about how you're going to finish everything. But when "everything" becomes seven or eight tasks tomorrow, it becomes easier to manage.

If you finish your daily or weekly list earlier than you expected, you might be tempted to expand. Why not add a few extra activities, you have the time, right ?

This is a bad idea because it stops you from focusing on the daily list. As soon as you create the possibility for expansion, your "everything" goes from being the tasks to finish tomorrow, back to your infinite to-do list. Stress and procrastination soon follow.