The Task at Hand
Let’s recap. Three weeks ago, you made the longest to-do list ever. You took that list and grouped together like items. These groups became your programs, which consist of related projects. You named your programs so that you can visualize your top priorities and themes for the year.
What do you do with these programs now? Do you just start crossing off items under each program? Remember, it can feel good to cross something off your list so before organizing this list even further, take a few minutes and knock off an easy task. You know you want to. Place that Instacart order for the weekend. Set up that cross-functional meeting that makes your eyes bleed when you see 23 calendars and no free slots. Or text your Mom that funny thing you keep forgetting to tell her.
You are ready now. In order to bring these programs to life, you need to group your items in each program into projects. I know, I know - more grouping. But, I have good news. Some items on your list are actually not to-dos - they are projects!
What even is a to-do? A to-do is something you can just do. Really insightful, I know. Let’s take a look at a to-do list and see if we can spot the to-dos:
Call Mom
Organize closet
Sign-up kids for summer camp
Do taxes
I only see 1 to-do on this list, and that’s calling Mom. I can just pick up the phone and call. That’s that. Everything else on this list could be a project.
If emptying out your drawers and refolding everything is how you organize your closet, that could be a to-do. But if organizing your closet means emptying the entire closet, recategorizing everything, maybe hitting the Container Store, posting items on Facebook marketplace for sale, and re-trying on old clothes, that’s a project my friend.
If you know what summer camp your kid is going to and what day you have to sign them up, that could be a to-do. But if you have to research the camps, ask friends for recommendations, make a spreadsheet to compare distance and costs, discuss it with your kids, and go through the registration process once you’ve selected a camp (or several camps depending on how long the camp is and how many kids you have), that’s a project my friend.
And do I really have to explain to you that doing your taxes is a project? Ok maybe if you are a single person who has had he same job the whole year and uses TurboTax, sure you could do that in a couple of hours. In most scenarios though, you have to collect the documentation across jobs, across banks, and across investments. You have to get in touch with your accountant or perhaps even find an accountant. If your accountant is doing all the work, you have to make sure they have all of your paperwork. That's a project my friend!
The point here is that your to-do lists are overwhelming because often times, they contain entire projects that you could never simply cross-off with an hour to spare. When you have some downtime tomorrow and you consult your to-do list, are you really going to DO YOUR TAXES? No! That’s a whole project! You need to treat it like a project and break it down to more actionable items that you can tick off.
Your homework today is to make your list even longer, I hate to say. But have no fear! Start simple by going through your list and pulling out all of those big to-dos and making them Projects! Find your straggler to-dos and see if they fit underneath one of those projects.
Soon you’ll see what projects you are working on, as opposed to just feeling like you are drowning in a never-ending to-do list. And even better - when you start to get too busy and can’t figure out what to drop off the list, you can find an entire project to delegate or defer, instead of trying to pick one of your many little items to toss over the fence.
Look at your list. Check it twice. Promote those big to-dos to their own projects and marvel at how many projects you have in flight. You are on your way to having a daily to-do list of things you can actually do.
Oh and you should probably start one of your many tax filing tasks while you are at it :)
