(2008-12-31) Rands Taste And Trickle Lists

Rands In Repose uses a "Taste of the Day" for his Daily Review process. Today’s record for consecutive uninterrupted seconds is 47... (Being a manager is) a gig where you need to keep track of everything, constantly re-prioritize, but remain strategically limber. And to do all of this, you need a task tracking system that allows you to strategically forget... By taking a deep breath and considering your entire day, I’m attempting to ditch all the bright’n'shininess and gather perspective: “What is going to matter today?” (Most Important Task) With this rough priority scale in mind, I do a complete scrub of the To-Do List... My task list has no hierarchical organization. I’ve used systems before that allow me to lump tasks by projects or by theme and, inevitably, I end up maintaining the structure rather than getting shit done... No Priorities... No Dates... The process for the Evening Scrub is slightly different.

Then he uses a paper "Trickle List" to connect higher-level Habit investment (2008-05-21-KadavyHabitsPrescriptionJellybeans) to his To-Do List. Is that what you want to do all day? Things? Stuff? No. If it’s all you’re doing, you’re productive, but you’re vigorously running in place. You’re tactical, but not strategic. Tasks are an incomplete picture of what you do and what you need to do... What simple, regular tasks are going to point you in (the) direction (of your Purpose)? You’re doing more than stuff and things with your trickles; you’re designing moments of high potential... With a couple of defined trickles, let’s talk about how to work them into the day... The last step of the morning is adding a fresh new line to the list, starting with today’s date, and then I put the list somewhere where I’m going to visually stumble on it during the course of the day. We’re off. Hopefully, during brief moments of calm, I glance at the list and it gives me a motivational shove... The Evening Scrub shenanigans, like the morning’s, involve assessment. It’s the end of the day and what’d I get done? “Hey, I haven’t done this trickle in a week? Why?” Again, the point is not guilt, it’s assessment... Maybe your trickles are too meaty. I keep trickles deliberately simple because tasks that take more than a few minutes to complete don’t get checked... I want to be aware of the larger themes present in both my lists. This 360 degree awareness is going to improve my ability to improvise, and that’s where I’m really going to kick ass. Your job is not to check off one thing on your list. It’s to cross three things off — at once. It’s to have an epiphany so big that you add a column to your Trickle List in the middle of the day - I Must Do That - A Lot... The point of your productivity (Time Management) system is not to keep absolute track of your tasks. The point is to keep the important information in the front of your brain where it will improve your improvisation and inform your whims.