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.

If you've ever ran more than a few miles, you probably understand why you need to pace yourself. Runners that sprint at the start of a race will be exhausted far before they cross the finish line. The same principle applies when trying to get work done. One solution for pacing my work that I've found incredibly effective is maintaining weekly/daily to-do lists.

The principle behind the WD To-Do List method is simple:

• At the end of the week, write a list containing everything you want to get accomplished.
• At the end of the day, write a list containing what parts of that weekly list you want to be finished tomorrow.

After you finish your daily list, you stop. Don't work on more projects or tasks. You have the rest of the day to relax. And after you finish the weekly list, you're done for the week. This means if you finish by Friday afternoon, you don't start work again until Monday morning.

Although this technique might sound obvious (and it is), there are some key advantages using a WD system has over the typical, Getting Things Done approach of keeping Next Action or project lists.

The principle behind the WD To-Do List method is simple:

• At the end of the week, write a list containing everything you want to get accomplished.
• At the end of the day, write a list containing what parts of that weekly list you want to be finished tomorrow.

After you finish your daily list, you stop. Don't work on more projects or tasks. You have the rest of the day to relax. And after you finish the weekly list, you're done for the week. This means if you finish by Friday afternoon, you don't start work again until Monday morning.

Although this technique might sound obvious (and it is), there are some key advantages using a WD system has over the typical, Getting Things Done approach of keeping Next Action or project lists.

After using this method for several months, I've found it beats the other systems in a few key places:

The problem isn't running out of time, it's running out of energy. You may have 24 hours in the day, but many of those are taken away eating, sleeping and relaxing after a few hours of exhausting work. Any productivity system that doesn't take this into account is broken.

A Weekly/Daily system, instead, blocks out your work into manageable chunks. Instead of trying to complete everything each day, I just complete my daily list. The same is true for the entire week. With a WD system you get a maximum amount of work done, while leaving yourself time to relax and enjoy selective unproductivity .