Get Everything Done

Jim Coyle:

<< Any thoughts on how you approach work with an empty list, but make sure you don't miss something that is crucial to a project you are on etc etc?? >>

A few pointers:

1. How successful have you been up to now at keeping things from dropping through the cracks?

2. What the no-list approach is targeting is the ever-expanding to-do list which can never be completed. There's nothing against reminders for things you intend to do at a specific time/day. Nor is there anything against project documentation.

3. As an exercise try writing down everything you have to do without referring to any lists, etc. You'll probably find that there are very few things you forgot about. The more pressing something is the more you'll have it on your mind anyway.

Jim Coyle:

<< thinking over the last couple of days it feels like I am only working on quadrant 1 and 3 stuff (Urgent) and is difficult to fit in the important Quadrant 2 tasks, any thoughts? >>

Well, this is the point of a no-list. It is not a way of magically getting everything done. It's a way of ceasing to fool yourself that you can keep taking stuff on without budgeting properly for it.

Because no-list shows you exactly what you accomplished during the day, you can begin to appreciate better how much work you can reasonably have on your plate. So you need to make some conscious decisions about what you are going to work on, and also ensure that your routine stuff and your procedures for handling other stuff are as effective as possible.