Eliminate All But the Absolute Essential Tasks

Kim Roach Says:

June 5th, 2007, 7:24 am

Excellent article Leo! I especially liked the tip about cutting your to-do list down to three MITs. I have just recently begun cutting down my to-do list to the most important tasks and it has made such a difference. I have also found it very helpful to review my weekly and monthly goals each day. This way, I am able to stay focused on the actions that will produce the most results. This article has been an excellent reminder of focusing on the essentials. It’s so easy to drift away and peddle around with mundane tasks. I can always depend on your site to give me a swift kick in the butt. Thanks Leo!

Mark Shead Says:

June 5th, 2007, 9:37 am

I’ve had success using the Behance 3×5 cards to keep my todo list under control. They only have room for about 9 items, so I am much more careful what I put on the list.

Of course I can do the same thing with a regular sheet of paper, but more room means I can always squeeze in one more item.

Dave M Says:

June 5th, 2007, 13:14 pm

Wonderful article Leo! Recently, I’ve been trying to do many of the things you suggest here, but it’s very hard. I’m finding it quite difficult to balance my personal life with a job I don’t feel passionate about any more. It’s like I’m living two separate lives - both of which have separate lists of goals and “things to do”. As far as MIT’s, I’d have to have one list for work, and the other for home.

I’m also very intrigued by the “information diet” you’ve been on for more than a year! Just within the last 2-3 weeks, I’ve been trying to cut back on TV again but I find it almost impossible. If I’m not watching TV, I find myself wandering aimlessly around the house, bored to tears, and wondering what to do. I often resort to just plopping my butt on the couch and surfing the web aimlessly on my laptop for hours. Sometimes I think blog-addiction is just as bad as TV and news addiction. I really need a hobby! :-)

Anyway, I’m striving to incorporate more of ZTD into my life. I’d like to get rid of my PDA too and just have a piece of paper in my pocket with my daily to-do’s on it.

Keep the great articles coming - I read every day!

Habben Says:

June 5th, 2007, 16:16 pm

Great post! I need to reduce my information stream. It’s hard to do because I’m so afraid I’ll miss out on some great idea. But I’m beginning to realize that most of it is just cluttering my brain.

Abdallah B. Stickley Says:

June 5th, 2007, 18:22 pm

I’ve been following your posts for a few weeks and finally felt that I had to post on it today. I love it. If anyone is having trouble initiating the information overload of news and magazines, try tracking how amny articles, etc. actually change any aspect of your life after a week’s time.

Tantowi Says:

June 5th, 2007, 21:09 pm

Every time you put a document away, make sure that it isn’t duplicating something already in the file. Put new telephone numbers and other information straight into an address book or database, not on the back of an envelope.

Christopher Says:

June 5th, 2007, 21:17 pm

Dave M,

A hobby is a great idea. The idea of the liberal arts was that you performed the art for its own sake: learning for the sake of learning. We are so busy doing one thing in order to get something else, that we can lose the ability to slow down and enjoy. There used to be a division between fine art and the servile arts. These days servile art has become graphic, or commercial art. Fine art had no purpose other than the experience. Think about music. It is its own purpose.

I read The Happiness Purpose by Edward de Bono when I was in the depths of despair in 1982. I was newly divorced. Life in New York hadn’t worked for me. I had gone back to England (where I’m from originally) I was staying in London without a job. This was my failure point. I was depressed and miserable. That book helped me. The benefit of a hobby is that you can have total control over it. I started drawing and painting. There are not many things in life that you can have control over. You are not trying to please anyone else. There are diagrams in the book. They are circles really. They represent life space, work space, hobby space, home space, and etcetera. If you do well in one, it gives you confidence and that can bleed into other areas. I won’t go into chapter and verse here about this view, but an activity for the sake of the activity can have an immense payoff

Sorry you are having such a time turning off the TV. Any addiction will be tough at first. I turned mine off in 1989. It’s still in some closet somewhere. You may like to read, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, by Jerry Mander. I do admit to some Netflix on the computer though.

The thing about TV is that what is presented is not my choice. It’s not my agenda on what I think is interesting or important. But the local library is a treasure trove. What have I been doing instead of TV? I started a five-year-long philosophy discussion group. I write slowdownnow.org, and just this week, slightlytrue.com. I took some online MA courses, but found a better way for me to learn what I want to learn. I listened to courses from the Teaching Company. I started with an overview of the Western Philosophical Thought, went on to listen to Great Ideas in Psychology, then Great Ideas in Philosophy, then Ancient Greek and Roman History, political science courses and more. All these experiences led me to books I would never have read either inside college or outside. I always wanted a classical education and I gave myself one. The thing with an addiction is that you need to replace the thing you don’t want to do with something else.

Leo,

I like your point about the biggest value: quality not quantity. I have to admit that reading the GTD way can be exhausting. Did I miss something? I think unstructured time is so important: a time to putter. I know that when I am in a relaxed state that is where my creative ideas come from.

Keep up the amazing work.

Christopher

AgentSully Says:

June 5th, 2007, 22:51 pm

This is so helpful. I learn so much from how you do things Leo. I need to pare back my to-do lists which means I need to take a segment of time to even review these unwieldy lists of mine!

Anyhow I think “Biggest Value” kinda says it all. If you make these a priority, non-negotiable, then you don’t have time for “time-wasting” things. Best regards.

Leo Says:

June 5th, 2007, 23:18 pm

Hey guys … thanks for all the nice comments! I’m glad if you’ve found this post useful.

@Dave M.: I know what you mean by these things being addictive! I’ve been addicted to blogs for a little while now and only recently cut back. Television isn’t that hard for me, although I still do watch DVDs. I don’t miss cable TV at all. Really. Try going a month without it. You won’t miss it. Newspapers and broadcast news — really, you won’t miss this either. It’s been liberating.

As for what to do instead of watching TV or reading blogs … that’s the thing — you need to define your dreams! What do you want to do with your life? Let’s say you want to travel the world — how are you going to do that? Focus on that dream and really get yourself moving to make it a reality. I know that’s easier said than done, but if you can find a way to get yourself excited about something other than TV or blogs, you’ll find yourself wanting to do it, and the addiction of the other stuff will fade away. Try exercise or reading - two of my favorite pasttimes! :)

Dean Says:

June 5th, 2007, 23:36 pm

This is truly useful information … most of the time I spend just piling on tasks. Kind of a macho gitr done thing. But you reinforce the zen of doing. Less is more, slow down to speed up and all that. Thanks for the good advice.

Alex Corroborant Says:

June 6th, 2007, 13:25 pm

The big boil of GTD is lanced and drained! Minor point: you can’t delete delegated tasks. Even if you have control over hiring of your subordinates or helpers, you may not be able to get the highest function performers. Often they will maintain no do-list except what is in their volatile memory (including things to do outside of work) and will forget. “I’m sorry - I forgot that one.” You have to check progress, nag and remind. Also, if you don’t keep it on your list for them, YOU will forget (and they will notice that). You can’t delete delegated tasks until they are done and checked off. It just won’t work.

m Says:

June 6th, 2007, 17:00 pm

I have two questions for you that I hope you will consider responding to in a future post someday. But first, I want to thank you for the useful information you provide and share how your site has helped me.

I suffer from a chronic illness which greatly limits my productivity. On top of that, the medication I take for my illness limits my productivity as well. It causes a sort of brain fog, an inability to focus, a lack of energy and motivation, poor memory, and an overall slowness of mind (luckily, I had a pretty swift one to start with so I’m not doing as badly as I could be), among other things.

One way these symptoms manifest themselves is by limiting my ability to get things done and even to figure out what needs to get done or even remember that something needs to get done in the first place. And it’s with this problem that your site has helped.

Recently, I adopted the MIT system as well as the concept of working on the least pleasant task first. What a difference these two things have made! Now I actually get some things done! Not everything I want or need to get done, but much more than I was accomplishing previously. I feel so much more organized and relaxed. My anxiety has been greatly reduced and my sense of accomplishment vastly increased. So, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Now, the questions. One is I find that doing two important, necessary tasks and then one task that is related to a personal goal/dream doesn’t work for me because two important tasks just doesn’t allow me to get enough done overall. But, when I do three necessary tasks and one personal one, I usually end up never getting to the personal one because the others usually end up taking too long, and then I wind up feeling unfulfilled and resentful at the end of the day, because my personal goal and the things I derive pleasure from were neglected. Any tips on how to fix this problem?

My question I’m hoping you’ll do a post on is: I’m having a hard time understanding some of the practical applications of the MIT system. You say the 2-3 MITs should pretty much take much of the day. I’d love to see some examples of what some such MITs would be. I guess for me some of my MITs are short and 3 is not enough, in which case I try to add another 3 and keep going, and some of my other MITs take too long, in which case I don’t even finish them or I don’t get to do other things that day.

I’d love to see an example of the MIT system in action by reading about a typical day (yours or a made up one or someone esle’s) in which this system is employed. It would be nice to see a day in the life type post where the combination of MITs and batches of smaller tasks is successfully used and where the specific tasks are described in detail.

Anyway, whether you are able to respond to my questions or not, I wanted to share that your site has made a real difference in my life in the past month or so that I’ve been reading and I really appreciate that.

Best wishes and thank you!!!

Leo Says:

June 7th, 2007, 0:32 am

@m: What an inspiring story! I am sorry to hear about your illness but I think it’s wonderful that you’ve kept such a positive attitude and that I’ve been able to help in some way.

As for your question, it’s a good one. I’ve been thinking of doing a more detailed “How I Work” post, but it has seemed a little egotistical to me. I try to share what I’ve learned without making it seem that I’m the shining example for everybody to follow.

Anyway, I’m going to put your question on my story list for sometime in the next week or two (I try to schedule them ahead of time), but for now, I’d like to give you a real quick answer:

If your MITs are truly important, and they are short enough for you to get done early in the day, rejoice! You’ve done something great! You can, of course, choose more MITs to do for the remainder of the day, but if you don’t finish them, remind yourself that you finished the original batch already, and what you’ve done after that is extra.

However, the great thing about what you’ve shared is that you’re 1) focusing on your MITs early in the day and getting them done, and 2) focusing on more MITs even after that. That is truly wonderful. You are therefore focusing on the most important tasks that you can possibly do each day, and that by itself is a great leap forward for most people. I wouldn’t worry too much about the details — as long as you’re focusing on the important stuff, you are doing the right thing.

Dave M Says:

June 7th, 2007, 6:40 am

Hey Leo, I’m with “m” on this one… I’d love to see a story about a day-in-the-life-of-Leo. I’m especially interested in exactly how you use your moleskin. It seems like if you only have a few MIT’s to focus on each day, why bother writing them down? I can certainly remember 3 tasks each day. What else do you write in that little notebook of yours? :-)

m Says:

June 7th, 2007, 21:49 pm

Thanks, Leo. I’m looking forward to the post. I admit when I’m feeling my worst, I tend to fall off track, for example that’s what’s happened the past few days. But I find the MIT system is easy to get back on track with and I intend to get right back on starting tomorrow (it’s always tomorrow, isn’t it–but seriously, I will start again tomorrow now that I feel better). With just 3 items to start with, it’s much less overwhelming to get right back to it, as opposed to a huge, long list that is sometimes scary to look at much less work from!

You’re a great inspiration.

Sunnan Says:

August 7th, 2007, 5:18 am

Minimal? This seems to be more steps, more things to do than plain by-the-book GTD.

Identifying big rocks is an extra step at review-time, finding three MITs is an extra daily step.

About keeping the lists short — I find that for me to not procrastinate, they need to have *everything* on them.

I needed to know just how horribly much I had to do in order to become better at delegating and saying no.

Leo Says:

August 7th, 2007, 23:50 pm

@Sunnan: Thanks for your comment. However, I disagree. First of all, if you take the actual steps of GTD, there are more than 20. I’ve counted.

Second, if you think about it, there are only three steps in this article (the rest is just detail):

1. Identify what’s really important.
2. Focus on those things.
3. Eliminate as much of the rest as possible.

Mike Says:

August 10th, 2007, 18:25 pm

In addition to my three MiTs - I’ve also started adding a “for extra credit” task - I enjoy trying to get far enough through the MiTs to complete it.

Guy Says:

August 12th, 2007, 1:52 am

Thanks Leo, great post.

Ms. Yulo Says:

October 18th, 2007, 23:48 pm

hi, i’m an majoring international studies student. i find your post in a helpful but in a limited way. refraining from reading the news and from being updated from world issues does not help my studies. how shall i solve this dilemma? a reply would be appreciated.

Leo Says:

October 19th, 2007, 7:57 am

@Ms. Yulo … well, remember that you need to first identify what is essential to you. For myself, the news is not at all essential. But for your studies, you may need to read the news. That may be essential to you.

“Essential” has a different meaning for each person, and what works for me doesn’t necessarily work for you. However, identify what is essential for you … and eliminate the rest.

WordPress SEO Says:

December 26th, 2007, 21:00 pm

Alexander’s point about not truly being able to delegate away is a good one. The delegate and check cycle has to be built in somewhere.

But Leo, the story of the two newspaper writers is priceless. The same thing was taking in place in my life as a journalist - fired from the local paper’s business section but picked up for writing feature articles for The Economist - until I went off the journalist rails and into advertising.

Sunnan Says:

January 4th, 2008, 8:11 am

That’s a bit like saying GTD has only five steps: collect (which you still need to do with this), process (which you still need to do with this), organize (which can be done more complex or more simple than the original book suggests), review (which you still choose to do with this) and do.

“Eliminate as much of the rest as possible.”

Yeah, well, if you don’t know what the “rest” is, you can’t eliminate it.

Since I’ve started GTD, I’ve also cut the phone cord, dropped the net connection (that’s why this post has taken so long — now I happen to be catsitting at a house where there is a connection), and stopped purchasing books.

I’ve tried living the ultra simple life but it’s only thanks to having all my open loops written down that I’ve been able to do so. They were what kept me awake at night.

In fact, I’m probably going to complex my life back up again to a bit less boring, because I’m not happy this way.

Sunnan Says:

January 8th, 2008, 12:53 pm

I thought about this issue some more today, and I want to take back some of my criticisms. I’m very happy to see people tweaking and changing the system especially outside the context of DavidCo’s MSIA-followers. Keep on hacking in the free world!

Eugene (Editor, Varsity Blah) Says:

January 17th, 2008, 1:00 am

I’m so glad you touched on priorities. It’s something I’ve written about as well:

“The best way I’ve found to deal with stress is to manage my time. Like I said in Work in Progress, it’s about taking care of the big things so the little ones take care of themselves and the really little ones don’t bother me at all. To do that, I ask three questions to decide whether or not to do anything.

“Firstly: Does it have to be done at all? If it’s not really important, I don’t do it! Secondly: Does it have to be done by me? If someone else can do it instead, I let them! Thirdly: Does it have to be done today? If I can put it off until later, I do. (Of course this assumes it won’t be put off forever!) Ultimately, it’s about working on what matters, focusing on one thing at a time, and always remembering that life is not meant to be taken too seriously.”

Keep it up!

angelin Says:

July 23rd, 2008, 4:38 am

Serving only the most important steps we can really save our time and to give full attention to really important things.

benji Says:

August 21st, 2008, 20:07 pm

Great article - only concern is not reading newspapers etc. Although I understand the point about streamlining information to what you need, a broader understanding of worlds beyond your own makes you better equipped and more balanced in your work. I don’t mean reading tabloids and watching ET, but rather taking to the time (a set amount daily) to broaden your knowledge base in other areas surely has benefit..? Not just at work, but as a person engaging with society rather than isolating yourself in a cocoon of ‘only what interests me and makes me productive’.

Alain Boisvert Says:

August 29th, 2008, 17:06 pm

“quote” I haven’t read a single newspaper “quote”

Well this is a bad habit…We should all read newspapers.
Get informed and stay in touch with the world.
You skim the not so important news but you read what is important in all fields: Culture, economics and social.

If I had to choose I would cut down reading selected blogs.

Valeria | TimelessLessons Says:

November 10th, 2008, 6:04 am

In addition to my three MiTs - I’ve also started adding a “for extra credit” task - I enjoy trying to get far enough through the MiTs to complete it.

Sunnan Says:

November 10th, 2008, 6:15 am

“Identify what’s really important.”

Identify it out of what? Me trying this without capturing everything and at least somewher having an inventury just lead to dropping important things. You’ll choose three things that you think are the most important but you’ll forget others.

Ron Towns Says:

December 4th, 2008, 19:11 pm

In order to be more productive, I’ve been using neural reconditioning. This technique can re-train your brain to aid it in forming goal-oriented habits.

I truly believe this, and I’ve already started doing something about it. Last year I found a program called Having it All: Achieving Your Life’s Goals and Dreams. It incorporates everything I’ve learned about the art and science of goal achievement – something I’ve been obsessed with for 25 years.
For instance, only recently did I come across something that is mind-blowingly exciting: Scientists have discovered systems in our brains that essentially govern our levels of achievement – much like a thermostat sets the temperature in a room. Here’s the thrilling part: When you know how, you can recondition these systems, in just a few minutes per day!
The implications are huge for anyone who wants to achieve more in life. For the first time in human history, we know how to remove the mental obstacles to success, and actually reset what scientists call our internal “expectancy points.” This means that you can literally recalibrate your subconscious mind, obliterate your old self-imposed limits, and redefine what is possible in your life.Having It All shows you exactly how to do this, step-by-step, so that you can easily create the life you’ve always wanted. So here’s the deal: For a limited time, I am slashing $50 off the retail price.
Go to http://www.johnassaraf.com/hia now to take advantage of this limited-time offer – just enter the coupon code “2008GIFT” at checkout.

Alex Says:

March 11th, 2009, 6:50 am

Very nice post. I’m starting to love this place. I find more and more interesting articles.
Focusing our energy approaches us to the success and the fulfillment of our goals. This is indeed a basic rule regarding concentration and, why not, prioritizing what’s important to us.

Sarah Says:

March 17th, 2009, 1:18 am

I love this - and yet I need to do the small “batch” things first thing in the morning. It makes me feel productive, it gets a whole bunch of energy smoothed out and makes me feel freer…I’m going to read each of these posts now - because the feeling of peacefulness and inspiration I feel as I do “tasks” is what’s most fulfilling to me. Thanks, Sarah

free divorce papers Says:

June 6th, 2009, 23:56 pm

Declutter. Eliminate. Focus. Simplify.

Fan Site Says:

June 25th, 2009, 17:22 pm

In addition to my three MiTs - I’ve also started adding a “for extra credit” task - I enjoy trying to get far enough through the MiTs to complete it.