Trying to get work done uses the same principle as running: You have to pace yourself. Runners that sprint at the beginning will be tired out long before they reach the finish line.
One of the ways to pace your work is by maintaining weekly and daily to-do lists.
- At the end of the week, write a list with everything you want to get done.
- At the end of the day, write a list containing what parts of that weekly list you want to be finished with tomorrow.
After you finish your daily list, you don't work on more projects or tasks. After you complete the weekly list, you're done for the week.
- A WD (Weekly/Daily) system manages your energy. You will get a maximum of work done while leaving yourself time to relax.
- A WD system stops procrastination because your big projects become bite-sized tasks.
- A WD system makes you proactive. With a bigger picture in mind, it's easier to put in the important but not urgent tasks.
- A WD system keeps you from burning out since you only have to focus on the next bite.
- Focus on the Daily List: Once you've decided what chunk of your weekly list to handle, you may put the other tasks out of your mind.
- Don't Expand the Lists: If you finish your daily or weekly list earlier than expected, don't add a more as this will turn into an infinite to-do list that can cause stress and procrastination.
- Do a Regular Monthly Review: Pick out a few larger projects and keep them in mind when you write your weekly lists.
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- Write down your top 25 goals: life goals, career goals, education goals, or anything else you want to spend your time on.
- Circle your top 5 goals on that list.
- Finally, any goal you didn’t circle goes on an “avoid at all cost” list. These are the tasks that are seemingly important enough to deserve your attention. But that aren’t moving you towards your long-term priorities.
Deep work is a term developed by Cal Newport, stating that all intellectual activities should be performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that pushes your cognitive capabilities to their limit.
On the other side deep work is “half-work” or “shallow work”. That kind of low‑value work usually goes along with multitasking, working on many projects, and having distractions in the environment (email, chat, and others).
Software that can help you do deep work:
Sometimes you might prioritize a task only to have expectations or deliverables change on you. At this point it’s hard not to be disappointed. But you can’t let that skew your judgment.
Humans are especially susceptible to the “sunk cost fallacy” —a psychological effect where we feel compelled to continue doing something just because we’ve already put time and effort into it.
Don't be that person, learn from your mistakes and move on.