The One Item TODO List

I fail at TODO list. Every time I tried I failed in the same way. It would work at first, and I’d feel good about the initial rush of productivity increase (real or delusional). Then inevitably the list would get bigger, with stale items left in it like rotten fruits. Eventually I’d abandon my TODO list.

Maybe you feel the same.

Daily Action

Every night before I go to sleep, I decide what I want to do the next day. Out of the dozens of things I want/need/anxious to do, I’d pick one. Just one. The next day I’d focus myself doing it. Everything else I let go.

That’s it.

You don’t need to read a National Bestselling Book about The System™.

I’ve found that it helps to:

• Rephrase the goal as an action. Instead of saying “practice Lean Startup methodology”, say “A/B test font-size to see if it increases Twitter following conversion rate”.
• Be specific. Instead of “write a blog post”, set the goal to be “write a 500 words blog post about the one item todo list”.
• Have a clear ending. Instead of “learn iPhone programming”, say “read 2 chapters from Beginning iPhone Programming”.
• Be conservative. It is more important to succeed than to be ambitious. We often overestimate how much we can do in a day, but underestimate what we can accomplish in a year. If you consistently succeed, you are more likely to stick to it.
• Write the action down. The physical action of writing it down helps to clarify the action. Your action might be clear in your head, but when you try to write it down you might realize, “oh, it’s not specific enough”, or “oh, it’s not actually actionable”.

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