How I Prioritize, Plan, and Pivot

In a previous post, I discussed my organizational and productivity workflow. I briefly mentioned David Seah’s Emergent Task Planner (ETP) as a key component. Here I will discuss more specifically how I use the ETP to prioritize and plan my day. 

Here is a picture of it:

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The left side of the page is used for scheduling tasks, and the right side is for listing the tasks.

This is how I use is to prioritize, plan, and pivot tasks during the day: 

Prioritizing My Day 

In order to minimize my decision fatigue, I try to start every day with the same 7 activities, each recorded on an ETP sheet which I leave sticked to my desk. I try to do these by noon. (I use a second ETP sheet for afternoon tasks.)

The top 3 slots are used for tasks related to attaining my 3 yearly goals—1 task for each goal. (Sometimes I have to put one of these on the back burner for an important project that is unrelated to one of my goals, but I try to save that stuff for the afternoon if I can.) 

The bottom 4 slots are (almost) always marked M, B, S, and Z. 

(M)ind is used to represent a few minutes spent learning something, although recently I’ve begun using it to represent journaling too. 

(B)ody is working out, usually running or yoga. 

(S)oul is meditating. (It’s not weird! Even Tony Soprano meditates.) If I can’t find 10 minutes of quiet to practice meditation, I try to do something mindfully. I find watering the garden mindfully to be a good substitute, especially in the early A.M. before people become louder than the birds. 

(Z)ero means attaining Inbox Zero. I try to clear my mail Inbox, my Omnifocus tasks-to-do inbox, and any papers or mail that are in my physical inbox. By clear, I mean that I either act on them immediately (if they take a few minutes or less), or I schedule them to deal with some other time. 

Planning My Day

After filling out the right side of the ETP, I block off times in the left column when I know I won’t be able to do my tasks. (Driving wife to train, appointments, etc.) I then try to figure out how I can accomplish each of the todos by noon, keeping in mind how long I expect them to take, and other factors, such as:

Is it going to rain or get really warm? Then, OK, I’ll run sooner rather than later. 

Will it be quieter in the house in an hour? Then, OK, I’ll do this before that. 

Pivoting

Although I schedule a block of time for each, I allow myself to jump around if I feel like it. Sometimes a task frustrates me and I decide I need to go for a run and get some fresh air. Or maybe a task is taking longer than I anticipated so I have to shift things around. The important thing is to get all of the tasks done, and it’s sorta fun to try to do it by noon. Even if I don’t finish them until 1, I still feel pretty good. 

In the afternoon, I am more liberal with my choices. Not only do I have the motivational bump from getting my most important tasks done, but having a less-structured afternoon work session feels great. 

If you have any thoughts on prioritizing, planning, and pivoting, tweet me @mjmottajr or e-mail me at mjmottajr@gmail.com. 

Have a great weekend!

What We Can Learn from Quiet Elderly Couples

It is far easier to be productive when you are connected to the Internet. Even if you are writing or coding or doing some activity that does not require an online connection, you often need to research something or search your e-mail archive. And even if you are purposely going without a connection (to focus on your task, for example), you ought to be backing up to a cloud semi-regularly. In other words: it can be really annoying to lose your Internet connection or be somewhere without it. 

I often observe this secondhand—my wife spends much of her working day commuting. Last week, I observed it firsthand when my commuter train’s engine died, and they shut off power to conserve energy. No electricity, no Internet, and the delay was going to be upwards of an hour.

I panicked. My Kindle and phone batteries were low.

I noticed that all of the commuters were either complaining to each other or to their phones. “I hate the commuter rail! It always does this!” or “I have no idea what I pay taxes for!” or “Will there be refunds?” 

Except for the elderly couple who were perfectly content just looking outside at the trees and occasionally talking. I suspect (but don’t know) that they do not have cell phones, laptops, or tablets. And I also suspect that they expect far less of technology than we do. 

That couple probably did not understand when the man sitting behind them yelled “it’s a miracle!” when the train started moving again. 

The miracle isn’t that the train was fixed—the miracle is that the train works in the first place. 

I remembered the pencils and sketch paper in my bag, and the couple projects swimming around in my head that I had not yet thought through yet. It was the perfect time for a brainstorm, a couple nonsensical doodles, and a cursory outline for a blog post. 

How Billy Crystal Changed (Or Didn't Change) My Life

For some reason, I often have unwritten, unnecessary, and somewhat-neurotic “rules” regarding when/if/how I will do something. 

For example: 

I won’t even try doing anything productive in the AM until after I’ve had coffee. Oh, and the coffee has to be good, which means I must grind the beans and brew it just-so. 

I only make to-do lists in one particular notebook. Post-its and legal pads are for chumps. 

Volumes must be set at even numbers. Just… because. 

And I will not practice yoga in front of people. This rule applies to yoga classes and even to my wife. It’s partly because some moves put me in compromising positions. But it also does not really feel like yoga unless I’m totally alone with my mat and my thoughts. Because of this rule, if someone comes in the room and starts talking to me, my session is paused (or over.) 

The other night, I watched an episode of The Comedians, during which Billy Crystal’s wife practiced yoga in front of him and seemed perfectly calm answering his questions. 

And just like that, I realized how foolish my rules are. I could do something important before brewing my coffee. It makes no difference where my to-do list is written. Odd-numbered volumes—from what others tell me—work just fine. And practicing a few yoga moves while answering my wife’s questions is not ideal, but it’s better than just sitting there not exercising. 

This article would be stronger if I could conclude by saying I am a changed man. However, since that night, I have yet to break any of my foolish rules. But I’m aware of them, even writing about them. Does that count?