5 Potent Productivity Lessons From This Little Gem of A Book

It’s not time, tasks, or tech you need to manage. It’s you!

I’ve read 100’s of books on being productive. One has helped me more than any other.

Do It Tomorrow (by Mark Forster) works because it understands us. He realises we need to learn to manage ourselves. It’s not time, tasks or tech that’s the big challenge. It’s us.

This book is jam-packed with ideas to bring work under control. To defeat procrastination. I’ve found they energise me and reduces stress.

Here’s my favourite five lessons.

1. Prioritise At The Right Level

Prioritising is part of every productivity strategy. But it’s usually done at the wrong level.

Prioritising your tasks is pointless. You need to do them all, so does the order matter? If you don’t have time for them all, then you need to reduce your commitments.

The right place for prioritising is at the level of goals and commitments. All your work flows from your commitments. So be selective about which commitments you take on.

Once you have your task list. It’s too late to prioritise. They all need to be done. So get crystal clear on what you want to achieve

I don’t care how you do. Have a colour board, snazzy statements. Whatever works.

The only thing that matters is that you are clear. You know the things you are not going to do. Then you need to be a strong gatekeeper for any new commitments you take on.

Lesson 1: Prioritise commitments not tasks.

2. Limits Produce More

Limits increase productivity.

Here’s the proof. The day before your holiday you get twice as much done. Correct? When there’s a tight deadline, your work rate shoots up. Contrast this to when you think you’ve got ages until a project is due. Less pressure = less work.

Limits also enhance creativity. I recently joined Twitter after a 10-year absence. I’ve been astonished at how powerful tweets can be. The character limit forces you to be more creative in how you communicate.

Some ways to use this idea:

• Overwhelmed by your to-do list? Pick 3 items to work on. Put the rest away for now.
• Work in 45 minutes timed bursts. Set an alarm.
• Half your project budget and find a way to get the same result. Ok maybe not. But when constraints are imposed on you. Don’t despair. Lean into them. You’ll be amazed at the ideas that come.

Lesson 2: Have more limits. Watch your productivity & creativity explode.

3. Little and Often

The human mind works best when we do things little and often.

Big bursts of activity are a poor use of time.

• Exercising — 3x30 minutes sessions are better than a 90-minute session
• Learning a language with a weekly lesson. Rehearsing 10 minutes every day is better than 60 minutes the night before.

Why does this work?

This is powerful because of what the mind does between sessions.

It doesn’t switch off. It is busy digesting knowledge and generating new insights. This is why you seem to have lots of new ideas when you pick up a project the next day.

Ideas on using this to your advantage

• You have 3 big tasks to do this week. Don’t do 1/day. Instead work a little on all 3 every day.
• Have a big project to complete? Start it today. As soon as you run out of steam on it put it on tomorrow’s task list. Keep recycling it until done.

Two added bonuses you get with little & often:

• Great for perfectionists — do a little amount with no plans to finish it today. You don’t need to worry about quality.
• There’s less resistance to getting started — do a small amount

Lesson 3: Work little and often.

4. Closed Lists

Most of our lists are open. These are dangerous. You must avoid them.

An open list is anything that is added to:

• a to-do list
• email inbox
• backlog of paperwork

Open lists are so demotivating. It is like you have a bucket of rocks that you are emptying one at a time but at random moments people add 1 (or 3) to it. And it never gets emptied.

No wonder we are so stressed.

It is such a standard way to work you might not realise there is any other way.

Try closed lists instead. It will revolutionise your work.

How to use closed lists

• Today’s to-do list. Make sure it matches the time available. And then don’t add to it. Put any new tasks on tomorrow’s task list.
• Backlog of emails/paperwork? Isolate the backlog and don’t add to it. Put all emails into a backlog folder. Manage the new incoming emails/paperwork. Devote 20 minutes/day to clearing the backlog.

All operating tools should be closed lists. Something that is not added to as you work on it. Only have open lists as a dumping ground for stuff. Move it to a closed list when you plan to work on it.

Good news — a closed list can only get smaller. Tasks either by get done or become irrelevant. This is incredibly motivating and massively increases the amount you can get done.

Lesson 4: Turn your to-do list into a closed list.

5. One Thing at A Time

This is a common cliche piece of advice. But it’s power is easily missed.

This is how successful people advance. They tackle one thing at a time. Complete it. Then move on to the next thing. We think unsuccessful people don’t achieve because they sit around doing nothing. It’s the opposite. They take on far too much. Doing all sorts of wonderful projects at the same time. No wonder they never bring any of them to fruition.

Train yourself to do one thing at a time.

Here’s an example:

Produce a someday list. Dump all your ideas and possible projects on this list. Pick 1 then do it. The rule is you must ignore the rest until this one is done. Then pick another.

Do this for 30 days — you’ll be amazed at the impact on your life.

The brilliance of these 5 principles is that they understand how humans are wired. They’ve led me to be more energised and get more done. I’ve used them for 14 years now. Whenever I’m overwhelmed I use them to get back in control.

Which one will you use first?