How To Tackle a Never-Ending, Always Evolving List of To-Dos
I’ve been working in content development and content strategy for the better part of my professional career. From journalism to advertising to the start-up world, one factor is ever-present: I always have a mile-long list of ever-evolving to-dos.
The thing about content is, it never stops. There is always more to make. Checking off the completion of a blog post is just one of fifteen different versions of that same piece of content. Then there are the 100 other blogs to write, edit, and publish. And before that, the strategy behind writing them and the consideration for how they all fit into a larger brand story.
My to-do list looks daunting. With every checkmark of completion, ten more items to check off appear. New categories of tasks materialize in minutes.
But my to-do list doesn’t keep me up at night. Because during the day, I get shit done. I always have.
Here’s the secret: sit at your desk and give your brain a swim lane. One lane at a time.
It sounds simple because it is. Working remotely means I live in a world of zoom beeps, slack chitters, email notifications, meetings; a cacophony of distraction.
To get through this, I allow the interruptions, but my primary focus is on one thing at a time. If it’s a series of tasks in the same category (e.g., editing a week’s worth of blog articles, or scheduling social media posts), I work on both that task grouping in one window of time, so my brain has one swim lane to charge through.
In short, if I’m editing blog posts, I edit blog posts. I don’t edit copy, and update social media, and noodle on motion graphics, and talk about strategy, and write my memoir in the same hour.
Just one thing. One swim lane.
I learned this technique when I was a barista at a bustling coffee stand.
If I had an order of 12 drinks, I’d steam all the milk first (that takes the longest); while the milk heated, I’d add syrups and flavors to all the cups in the order, and look ahead at other orders. I’d begin prepping those upcoming orders (steaming milk), and then I’d prep my shots of espresso last. In my own personal assembly line, I’d pour the espresso, flow in the milk, and deliver them all in a minute or two.
Large orders didn’t stress me out because I had a system in my brain to categorize each significant component for the drink. Those components were prioritized by the time it would take to complete them, and their dependencies on each other. Thinking big picture with each order, before getting into it tactically allowed me to methodically execute and deliver.
The same goes for my to-do lists today. I look at my massive to-do list, organize it in mental swim lanes, and then tackle each grouping of tasks in one sitting.
Just one thing. One swim lane at a time.
The distractions and interruptions are less jarring because I am not bouncing around between projects. I create a file structure for tasks at the beginning of the day, and, even when interrupted by quick zoom calls, I can shift back into my flow, because there’s only one lane to swim in, only one file I’m sorting in my brain at a time.
I find I have less mental fatigue in the afternoons, as I‘ve essentially defragged my brain (does anyone remember defragging their hard drives in the ’90s?) in the morning. No mental fatigue at 3 pm, means I get three hours of productivity I might otherwise squander if I’d been bouncing around between tasks all day.
If my priorities have to shift, I repeat the process — looking at the big picture, categorizing tasks by time and dependencies, and pivoting to a different swim lane — while saying out loud that the priority is changing, and I’ll complete my first task the next day (or as time allows).
Try looking at your big list of to-do’s, bucketing all your tasks into swim lanes, and then committing to focus on one path, one pitcher of milk, one thing, at a time. You may find yourself over-delivering.
