Mind todolist

December 14th, 2012

17

The Easiest Way To Explode Your Productivity

By

You probably have some sort of system to track tasks, most likely in the form of a to-do list. I have two lists:

I will also assume that you know how to chunk down big projects into small tasks, so that your to-do list has an entry of “1 hour writing” instead of “Write a book” or “Upload DOC file to Amazon” instead of “Publish book.”

My productivity tip is simple: organize your to-do list for the next day before you go to bed with 10% more work than you think you’re capable of doing. Therefore on Tuesday night, fill your to-do list of tasks you want to do on Wednesday.

One of the reasons we procrastinate is because we know deep inside we don’t have a lot of work, so when we wake up and see a nearly empty to-do list, our mind decides to mess around for a while. But when we wake up and see a boatload of work that we’re not even sure we can complete, we are more reluctant to waste time.

It’s critical that you put more work than you think you can handle, because it prevents you from having easy days where your productivity is low. You should be ruthless when setting up your to-do list at night so that there is no escape for you when get up in the morning. Even if you fail to complete all the tasks, you still do more work then if you gave yourself a lenient schedule and finished everything.

One last tip is to visualize how you’re going to get all of next day’s work done as you lay in bed. Go through the day and casually figure out time blocks where you can get the tasks done. When you wake up, your mind already has a plan to do the work.

Read Next: How To Get Up In The Morning Without Hitting Snooze



About the Author

has been blogging for several years over at RooshV.com about travel and women. He has also authored books on how to get laid in the United States, South America, and Eastern Europe. He launched Return Of Kings in October of 2012 to serve the needs of masculine men.

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  • playmuc

    Yep I do the same. Except I use an iPhone app. And it’s crucial that the TODO-items are small tasks, yes.
    And another piece of advice from me: Just start working. Don’t think about it (you’d just visualize a lot of work that you probably are too lazy to do), just start. And once you’ve started it’s much easier to continue.

  • Boz

    “But when we wake up and see a boatload of work that we’re not even sure we can complete, we are more reluctant to waste time.”

    Solid tip.

  • John McNeill

    I have to admit, I’ve been doing the opposite. Write down generic tasks and making it seem like I can get enough done in a reasonable time to satisfy my need for instant gratification. And I don’t set any time blocks and I plan in the morning. But none of it is working, so I think I’ll give Roosh’s approach a try.

  • Bob

    Man, I’m glad I found your blog some time back. It’s not just about meeting women. It’s about men maximizing their success and happiness in life. If you ever decide to come to Asia I’ll give you a tour of hot spots.

  • anon1

    google desktop app has been closed, any other one’s that work?

  • http://3rdmilleniummen.wordpress.com 3rd Millenium Men

    Spot on Roosh, exactly the way I find to be more productive and effective in the use of my time.

  • Heh

    I was trying to figure out why I couldn’t install the google gadget – it’s not there any more?

  • Uncle Elmer

    I have the “elmer pda” which I made in OpenOffice Impress (free sw). There are maybe a million versions of this but mine works for me.

    Concept is to take a piece of printer paper and fold 3 times. Now visualize the front as 8 panels ea measuring 2.75×4 inches. Each panel has a different priority function. When you fold it up the inner panels are your short list on the right (like a book) and on the left page (this is important), you have a list of those activities you must do daily, such as “pushups”, “language”, “am/pm writing” etc etc whatever your developmental goals are. Now you mark a tick by each activity when you do it; it’s a way to measure your progress/diligence. Example, you read for one hour, mark it, you do 50 pushups mark it, you declutter all your crap, you mark it, etc.

    When I unfold once, have a panel for list of shit I need to buy, so next time I am at store I remember. Another panel is for property management.

    On the back I keep a calendar and a list of phone numbers. If you can’t print both sides, one side is ok.

    If I am doing a lot, I reprint as needed, though sometimes keep it for weeks. If I am disciplined, the activities panel gets a lot of marks.

    Anyway, I have found that marking progress/acttivities is important vs simply adding new tasks and scratching them off.

    In OpenOffice (or powerpoint), The panels are marked with a line so easy to add a text box to each panel.

    When you lose it, you print another. Months later you will find the old one, which is another gauge of progress.

  • Uncle Elmer

    Something else, if you travel overseas, get rid of it before you return, as Customs may make a copy of it or any other paperwork/reading material. They can also seize your computer or other devices.

    You can email copy to yourself as backup.

  • prepman

    I thought the picture at the top of the article said it all. Do NOTHING, or as close to it as possible.

    In my process, just say “NO.” to most things you think you have to do. It’s the most powerful word in the universe.

    Most tasks that seem important just aren’t. Get your basic income and expense equation balance, as best as possible by delegating tasks to others, or by investing in things that don’t require your constant effort. I prefer rental real estate myself.

    Once that’s taken care of, then your to-do list is just a I-want list. That’s the best kind to have. And try to keep it uncluttered so that you don’t need a calendar, software or time management system to track what you want to do.

    Then, you can truly take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves to you on a daily basis, as you’re not burying you nose in your own task list.

  • speakeasy

    Great post, as productivity and creating efficient lists has been an issue I’ve been trying to tackle. There’s a pretty good and simple no-BS web-based solution I’ve started using: teuxdeux.com. They also have phone apps available.

    Here is an excellent blog-post I read last week expounding on what Roosh mentioned here:

    http://www.sparringmind.com/productivity-science/

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  • Chris

    How are you splitting your tasks between your desktop list and your android list? Do you just make a duplicate for both?

    • Roosh

      At the end of the day I transfer any task i put on android to my main desktop list.

  • Barocophile

    …and then I play Tomaso Albinoni on my speakers….and my to do lists evaporate, tasks exsanguinate into oblivion……. I enter a state of complete sensual paralysis.

    No success at work has come closer yet to this joy….I love to waste time. When you work 7 days, 12 hour shifts, and are off for 7 days……paradise.

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