I tweeted today that I was knocking out my “To-do” list and @msbillionaire1 responded back with the following tweet
@SeanMalarkey Awesome! I could never finish my lists. Any suggestions or tricks you might wanna share? 
Several years ago I researched a bunch of different methods to “get more done” in a short period of time. I took the best elements from several different systems and created my own. It works well for me.
So I made this quick video to show her and YOU how I get Massive Amounts of Sh*t Done on a daily basis.
How do you do it? Do you use a to-do list? A daily planner? Nothing at all?
UPDATE: Be sure to check out this newer post on using Google Docs to get more done - How I Get More Tasks Done Using Google Docs
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Your videos rock! I know without lists I get nothing accomplished. Thanks for sharing!
I like the simplicity of your system. I know when we spoke you mentioned that you hadn’t read David Allen’s Getting Things Done, but you seem to be employing certain methods of GTD instinctively.
One of the main principles of GTD is if you have a task that requires 2 minutes or less of your time you do it immediately.
Thanks for the inspiration. I fall of the organizational/productivity horse often and I need to get back on the saddle. It’s amazing how much more clear you mind is when you don’t have all these little things weighing on you.
Hi Sean,
Ok,…. man ….. stop, your wearing my out! I’m an old man (52 next month). I can’t catch a turtle in this rat race, all I can do is lose time at a break neck pace! I wish I were “Robo Blogger” but I live in the south, where the pace of Blogging is leisurely. You must live in New York!
Strong stuff, again, Sean. Keep it up.
Great idea! I am going to try it, but I think I’ll use a spreadsheet so I can sort the list by priority and add the estimated minutes more easily.
I really like the idea of having the game plan for the day ready when I wake up.
Thanks for sharing Sean.
Great post Sean- Mantener la mano chulo fuerte!
cheers
Push up workout should be an ‘A’
Thanks Sean for sharing, I have a similar to-do list that is a bit more general,
1. Projects that need to be done this week
2. Upcoming Projects
3. Wait on client feedback
4. Completed projects that need to be invoiced.
I also like “buying wife flowers” has “A” next to it, I bet you make her day everyday!
Loved the to do list video…I do a similar list but as I use a mac I have them on stickies on my desktop so I see it all day!
I have been coaching people to do this exact thing (include time estimations on your task list) for years. It really works because it eliminates the vagueness of a general task list. It brings the abstract into the concrete.
Also, it forces you to get into reality about how much is on your plate, OR conversely, it also reinforces the fact that some things don’t actually take as long as you think they will, especially if it’s something you don’t want to do. Sometimes the biggest obstacle to productivity is just mentally blowing tasks out of proportion so they feel a lot bigger than they really are. Using the time estimations eliminates that aspect.
Great stuff!
)
I’ve also had great success making a NOT to do list and also time
blocking for 50 minute
increments totally uninterupted and using the spare
ten minutes
to check email and texts before
getting into another session
Seems to me you spend massive amounts of time screwing around with your text file. Why don’t you just use rememberthemilk.com or another task management app, online or otherwise? RTM allows you to categorize, prioritize, schedule, set up tasks by location, etc. Many others do also, I used to LOVE the task manager in the palm treo but now im on a Droid and RTM seems to be the best, although you have to pay for Droid access. The free website is very useful.
Thanks for the info.
DG
That is my formula…lol If you don’t know what you have to get done, nothing will get done. Write it out in notepad and complete it for the day, makes life MUCH easier
Great video. I use a very similar system, but I have fallen in love with QuickFoxNotes (I have no affiliation). It’s a Firefox plug-in that puts a multi-tab notebook in your browser. If you then use Xmarks, all the the notepages will be backed up and synchronized across your machines. Since I live inside my browser, I find it an incredible productivity tool.
Cheers!
Really good site, where did you come up with the knowledge in this blog? I’m glad I found it though, ill be checking back soon to see what other articles you have.
Getting stuff done is the biggest challenge I hear from my clients, it is their biggest excuse!
I also recommend David Allen’s GTD, what I do is when something pops into my head I go to my Outlook tasks and write it down there, put a date on it if it can’t be done is less than 2 mintutes and then every day I have a list that is prioritized and doesn’t end up being so big that it is overwhelming. I also categorize them a bit differently, I categorize accoring to my meaningful objectives, those things get done first!
Thanks for keeping the conversation going,
Great! Just re-tweeted this post!
Sean,budgeting your time allows you to go back after the task is done and compare budgeted to actual.
During the comparison, you can then determine what you did right and do it again, or why your actual was longer than your budget and fix from there.
Always analyze and improve.
a to do what? jk,… my fav ” buy my wife flowers ” and second favorite ” take the afternoon off and spend time with my family.” Thats it right there baby,…
Aren’t you a nice hubby including ‘buy my wife flowers’ on the list and as an A!
I am a lover of lists and I agree it makes you feel like a rockstar once you have knocked off your tasks for the day! Great video
Hey Sean
Love this video, I like your method.. and your squeaky laugh near the beginning LOL.
I have so much planned for the next few weeks,
I think ima give your little method a go and see how I get on
Thanks
Cher
Sean,
Great video!
Never thought of adding the time and doubling it. Great suggestion!
Would you consider putting this in excel to do the math for you?
Thanks!
Patricia
Hey Sean
Re-reading this post at exactly the right time for me!! I just wrote a post saying I intend to start using a plan and you have kept yours so simple, I will be implementing it straight away.
Great stuff as always Sean!
Thanks
Sue
You are the second highly productive successful internet marketer I’ve heard in two days indicate that they use notepad.. probably about time I opened good ole notepad, though it’s almost midnight, falling asleep on my feet and so need to pull an all nighter to get all the stuff done I’m behind on. No.. notepad list, then alarm clock for tomorrow morning with notepad list open on my laptop..
You need a VA!
doubling the time would definitely help me because of the occasional smoke break. Awesome bro…love it!
Sean, this is exactly what I need, thank you so much for sharing it. I have started using google docs to create my to do lists, but some of your little hints are absolutely essential to making this work well for me.
I also totally agree with you about doing the list the night before. I have alternated between doing my to do list the morning of, and the night before, and it works out so much better to do it at night, wake up, and know exactly what I need to accomplish. Thank you again for sharing.
Sean,
GREAT video! I absolutely rely on to do lists to get things done, especially big projects. If I don’t use them, then I tend to spiral out of control & allow myself to get bombarded with other, often meaningless things. I also use Notepad (almost religiously), especially when I have killer ideas that I don’t want to forget! Your tip about assigning a certain amount of time to each list sounds like a great idea, so I think I’m going to try that out for the to do lists I already have running…
Again, great video… loved the other one on using Google docs as well!
Celisse
Thank you Sean for the awesome video!! Just earlier today I was thinking about how I struggle to get my “to-do” list done sometimes. When I do not get it all done, I go to bed feeling guilty and frustrated. I will try your suggestions, and prioritize with classes of letters instead of numbers. Thanks for the tips!!
Hey Dan,
Thanks for the kudos. Be sure to do this at night, you will see a huge difference in your a.m. productivity if you do.
One thing i do now is numer the letters by priority… example:
A1
A2
A3
A4
B1
B2
etc….
That extra step helps as well to determine order…
I’ve tried doing this before, but I did it first thing in the morning and it always screwed up my momentum. Doing it the night before is brilliant. Will try that. Thanks!
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