Why high-performers don't use to-do lists

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An article by Aytekin Tank about high performers productivity. For most of us we find ourselves in hand-to-hand combat with a to-do list so long and so vast it resembles the spiraling tentacles of a giant squid.

It’s a race to the bottom, except there is no bottom.

After all, the go-to piece of advice we’ve been told since grade school during feelings of overwhelm is, “Make a list and start crossing things off.”

Some reason why to-do lists do not work:

  • We are terrible at estimating how long tasks take
  • To-do lists are never quite done (some almost always “roll” into tomorrow)
  • They place us into a mindset where everything must go on the list – regardless of the level of impact it has on our day
  • To-do lists allow us to avoid the important

Author offers to use instead “hunter” strategy. Instead of writing down dozens of tasks that you need to get done each day … choose one that MUST get done and will deliver the most impact.

When you walk into your office, pull one of those post it notes out and write down one big high-impact goal you would like to achieve for the day. Stick the post-it note somewhere on your laptop and start working. Good advice!

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