To-Do Lists Are Killing Your Productivity.

The problem with productivity.

Do you ever find yourself spending hours watching Youtube videos on so-called productivity experts on how to build fancy Notion templates and manage your time? Do you try and optimise every hour of your day with the latest AI scheduling software?

If you’ve ever got sucked into the above then this is for you. I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to still use pen and paper to manage your tasks. The truth is, the really productive people aren’t making Youtube tutorials on how to be productive because they’re out there building companies.

The productivity and get things done movement has exploded in popularity but how much of an impact can it really have on your output? From my experience, it just makes you feel guilty every time you’re not working.

In this day and age, your output is not always correlated to your input. Why? Leverage. What you work on is one of the biggest factors to determine your output. Building a pottery cafe which sells handmade pots made in your garage can require the same effort as building a tech start-up. One of these has unlimited upside.

So how do you decide what to focus on? You don’t need to explain what to work on, that’s a matter for another day. You just need a simple system to keep you focused on the most important tasks which move the needle in your business and block out the noise.

How to organise your workload.

Let me introduce to you the Focus grid:

This concept is extremely simple and first created by President Dwight Eisenhower. Using the Focus Grid, you can quickly prioritise your tasks at hand to see which will have the most impact.

Your aim is to focus on the high-impact tasks which need doing now. This takes discipline and focus in the modern-day noisy world in which we live. You’ll always find time to answer emails and phone calls, they’re easy wins which make you feel good. But sitting down to start lead sourcing and grow your business is a different story. There’s no immediate punishment for not doing that work, but over time if neglected, your ship will sink.

Any person who’s achieved noteworthy success will tell you that it didn’t happen overnight. It happened over 10 years by showing up every day and focusing on growth-driving tasks. If you want to go down the same path, then commit to carrying out one high-impact task each day. It doesn’t have to take 5 hours, it just has to move the needle. Once you’ve completed it, reward yourself and enjoy your day.

What about the urgent admin tasks which have been eating my conscience each day? I hear you cry. Give them to someone else. Either delegate them or delete them. Most things get done in the end, but the point is to prioritise the high-impact tasks.

So, burn your to-do list, start using the focus grid and find an accountability partner to help you get stuff done. Fancy Notion templates only help the person selling them. If you want to get real work done then you need to commit to the hard tasks.

Start now and your life will look completely different in 12 months’ time. The world cares about output and how you can add value, not what task management software you use.

Tom Scourfield

Get sh*t done officer.