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For you who prefer listening to reading, this post is also available as an episode of the ""Done!"" podcast:

A short­er list

Sound famil­iar? I believe you could ben­e­fit from a min­i­mum list. It’s the short list of things you absolute­ly need to get done dur­ing the day. It’s not the list of every­thing you wish you could get done. Nor is it the list of things that would be nice to have fin­ished by now. And cer­tain­ly not the list of things you should be able to fin­ish if noth­ing unex­pect­ed happens.

Not real­ly a list

I call it a sep­a­rate list, but since I think you should have all your to-do tasks in one list, I mean that you should mark the min­i­mum tasks in your actu­al to-do list, so you can choose only to see them. In some list tools, you can view only starred tasks; in oth­ers, only those with a spe­cif­ic label. By all means, you can write the short list on a piece of paper, but throw it away at the end of the day. Don’t let it sit there, with­ered, until tomorrow.

Do this

1. Try mak­ing a min­i­mum list for your next work day.
   Some peo­ple make the min­i­mum list in the morn­ing. Oth­ers rec­om­mend doing it in the after­noon or evening before to sleep well. Do what you think works best for you, or try both versions.
2. At the end of the day, quick­ly reflect on whether this was some­thing for you.
3. Did you like it? If so, repeat it. If not, con­tin­ue as usu­al. Soon, you will find a new trick to try.

Eas­i­er to be sat­is­fied with the day

If you make a min­i­mum list, what you absolute­ly have to accom­plish becomes more appar­ent. You sharp­en your focus, mak­ing it eas­i­er for you to decline if offered some­thing com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent than what’s on the list (if there’s any­thing unfin­ished there). Of course, new tasks with the high­est pri­or­i­ty may come up, but it’s eas­i­er for you to make room for them when the list of absolute must-dos is short­er than your usu­al dai­ly list.

If you have a min­i­mum list, you can feel more sat­is­fied at the end of the day, even if unex­pect­ed things have come up (which they always do).

What do you do?

What dif­fer­ence has your ​“min­i­mum list” (or what­ev­er you call it) made for you? Please share!

(Did you find this help­ful? Also check out how I have organ­ised my to-do list!)