Creating To-Do Lists Effectively

You don't need more hours. You need more effective AI prompts: Use these 21 ChatGPT prompts to save yourself 10 hours next week - 1) Inbox Zero ↳Prompt: "Act as an executive assistant. Here are 10 emails I don't know how to respond to. Draft quick, professional replies I can send or edit." 2) Delegation Help ↳Prompt: "Here are 5 things on my plate. Act like a manager and help me decide what to delegate, and how to frame each task for handoff." 3) Shorter Meetings ↳Prompt: "Act as a meeting consultant. Here's an agenda. Help me trim it by 30% while keeping the outcomes strong and the flow efficient." 4) Daily Focus ↳Prompt: "Act as a productivity coach. Here's my to-do list for tomorrow. Help me pick the 3 highest-impact tasks and create a simple plan to protect time for them." 5) Smarter Scheduling ↳Prompt: "Here's my calendar for the week. Act as a time management expert and help me batch similar tasks, reduce context switching, and free up focus time." 6) Weekly Reset ↳Prompt: "Act like a performance coach. Give me a 15-minute Sunday reset ritual to review the past week, plan the next, and start Monday focused." 7) Automated Systems ↳Prompt: "Act as a workflow expert. Here's a process I repeat every week. Suggest simple ways to automate or streamline it using basic tools." 8) Decision Clarity ↳Prompt: "Here's a decision I'm stuck on. Act like a coach and walk me through a step-by-step framework to decide with more clarity and speed." 9) First Draft Faster ↳Prompt: "Act as a writing assistant. Here's the topic. Help me outline and rough-draft a clear, structured blog post in 15 minutes or less." 10) One-Touch Tasks ↳Prompt: "Here are 10 small tasks I've been putting off. Help me write a quick plan to knock them out in one focused 30-minute sprint." 11) Rapid Research ↳Prompt: "Act as a research assistant. I need to understand this topic fast. Give me 5 reliable sources, a 2-sentence summary, and what I should read first." 12) Pomodoro Plan ↳Prompt: "Act as a productivity coach. Here's a task I've been avoiding. Help me break it into 25-minute sprints with clear goals for each one." 13) Cleaner Docs ↳Prompt: "Act as an editor. Here's a messy doc or note. Clean it up, make it scannable, and pull out a bullet list of key action items." 14) Thinking Partner ↳Prompt: "Act like a thinking partner. Here's a challenge I'm facing. Help me explore 3 different angles or mental models to reframe it." 15) Info Compression ↳Prompt: "Here's a long article or transcript. Summarize the key ideas in 5 bullet points, and give me one actionable takeaway." [Check out the sheet for 6 more] If you're not using AI to help you be more productive, You're wasting hours you could be spending on the things that matter most. Put this sheet to work. You won't regret it. --- ♻️ Repost to help others be more productive. And follow me George Stern for more content like this.

This small change to my to-do lists has become the biggest productivity hack 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁: Over the last few years, I've tried many ways to organise my work and time. But the only method that has worked is to list the tasks of the day in a physical notebook. Once the tasks are done, strike them off. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺: I had, on average, 5–6 tasks on the list. But I could complete only 2–3 each day. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁: At the end of the day, I felt as if I'd achieved NOTHING. The feeling was the same unless I completed 100% of the tasks. That feeling frustrated me more than I can put into words. I didn't only LOSE that day. But I'd become so demotivated that I'd keep spiralling downwards for the next few days. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 "𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹" 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺: the real problem wasn't the system. The real problem was also not the lack of prioritisation. The real problem was that my prioritisation was not based on motivation or happiness. Let me explain... I reviewed my task list for the last 30 days and started seeing a pattern. There were some tasks which, when incomplete, cause an immense amount of frustration. This frustration overpowered the joy of completing the other tasks on the list. That is when I remembered Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory, which I admire. It says there are two factors that affect employee satisfaction. 1. 𝗛𝘆𝗴𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗲: these are factors that, if absent, cause dissatisfaction. For example, salary, job security, a good environment. But even if they exist, they don't increase satisfaction!     2. 𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: these are factors that, if present, lead to higher satisfaction and happiness. Examples: rewards, promotions, growth opportunities, etc. My old way of creating lists (left) had a problem. I was not classifying my tasks into hygiene and motivators. The solution: Create the same to-do lists, with 5-6 items. But each item must fit into one of 3 categories: 1. 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿:if I don't complete them, I will be sad. 😔 2. 𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿:if I complete them, I will be happy. 😊 3. 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗰𝗵:if I complete them, I will be extremely happy😄 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁: With the new list (right), as long as I complete the tasks in bucket #1, I am not sad or frustrated. I feel like I have accomplished everything for the day. (Again, a hard feeling to put into words!) This feeling leads to more productivity, which brings even more happiness. And the cycle continues every day, every week. Such a small change. But such a huge impact. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗮𝘁: I can tackle the same problem via better prioritisation. Instead of having 5, I could have 2-3 tasks on the list. Unfortunately, that doesn't work for me, especially on days when I have more time at hand. And not adding all the tasks makes me feel I'm missing something. So I prefer to dump all my to-dos on the list. If you use to-do lists, let me know in the comments how successful you are. And what are your productivity secrets?

I've set goals and failed to achieve them. I've written down goals and never hit them (here is why). - I didn't integrate my goals into my daily activities. - I didn't make my goals smart ( it was a wish list). If you write goals more like a wish list, here is what happens... - Unimportant tasks will take priority. - You won't have daily actions to move you closer to your goals. - Your action taking will be inconsistent / make it up as you go along. But there is something worse... You'll lose confidence in achieving your goals. It will create doubt. You'll have a sneaking suspicion your goals are impossible. It becomes a vicious circle. You don't take the goals seriously, so you fail to hit them. You doubt the goal is possible, so you don't want to put effort into them. It's vicious circle that confirms you can't achieve your goals. BUT if you do want to hit your goals, you need to make them smart. You need SMART goals - goals that are clear and actionable. SPECIFIC - MEASURABLE - ACTIONABLE - RELEVANT - TIME-BASED Write down your SMART goals. Then diarise the actions you need to take. Example: Specific: Get more leads per week from social media. Measurable: 4 Leads per week. Actionable: Posting 3 times per week, grow my network, offering a lead magnet to new connections. Relevant: More connections will increase my reach, leads will help me win clients. Time-bound: By 7th May 2024, I'll be getting 4 leads per week. SMART goals are the way to achieve things. Set your goals, make them SMART and work on them every day.

Yesterday I took the entire revenue team (sales, cs, marketing) off the floor for out for a very specific training. Goal Setting. Yep. The entire org for over 60 min together learning how to set and achieve goals. I do this 2x a year with my teams. Why? Because most people never accomplish their goals because they never actually set them and never actually create a plan to achieve them. I've gotten pretty dang good at setting goals. I've gotten pretty dang good at achieving goals. It makes life so much more fun. So here are the key concepts I teach in goal settting. 1. Set a goal in each of the 5 buckets. Self. Health. Wealth. Proffessional. Experience. 2. Identify the Keystone Goal - Which goal if achieved will have the biggest impact on all the rest. 3. Who do you need to BE in order to achieve this goal - How would this person act, work, communicate, behave, etc 4. What do you need to BELIEVE to achieve this goal - this combined with number 3 is where we create our affirmations. 5. Why do you want this goal - aka what will change in your world when you achieve it - If nothing changes... nothing changes. 6. What are you done dealing with now/whats the negative of NOT achieving your goal - Having a negative is important when things get hard. 7. Why you Why Now - Why are you capable of achieving this goal, what traits, resources, etc do you have that allow you to believe you can do this. 8. What are your 3x3s - 3 things daily, weekly, and monthly that if done will give you your best shot at achieving - Example - Put workout clothes out the night before with the alarm across the room - that would be a good daily for health 9. Make it visual - Vision boards (we will be doing this in a couple weeks as a team) - but also visualize it each morning, each evening, not just the accomplishing of the goal, but the process to achieve it. 10. Accountability - Share it with people that not only want to see you win, but also with people that won't allow you to lose/will hold you to the fire. --- All written out by each individual and then my challenge to them is to read it every morning and every night for 60 days. Watch what happens when you do. A team that sets goals together, wins together. I can't wait to see so many of theirs goals, so many of their affirmations, and so many of their achievements. This is going to be good ya'll. Just wait and see. PS - this is one of the most popular modules in the Sales Leadership Accelerator in fact it's unlocked right out the gate for all members. PPS - I'll be doing this workshop at Pavilion GTM in a few weeks as well here in Austin. Lets set and smash some goals ya'll!

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and lose focus. It's easy to say you're going to get to a task later. Even if that task makes it to a to-do list, that list can become a never-ending reminder of tasks not done. 📝 I am passionate about #TimeManagement As a frazzled new Sales Leader, I realized quickly that I needed to actively manage my time. I couldn't lose days where I worked my a** off all day and then asked myself - what the heck did I even do today? As a Founder, owning my time became a renewed passion. For the first time, ever, I get to decide exactly how to spend my days and I want to spend them doing work that drives impact and joy. One of my favorite time management techniques is having a to-do list that I actually use. To-do lists are a STRUGGLE for me. Two tips if you also struggle with to-do lists: ❌ If the task will take more than an hour to complete, don't put it on a to-do list. ❌ If the task doesn't need to be done in the next 1-2 weeks, don't put it on a to-do list. ✅ If you relate to those struggles, skip straight to step 4: DIARISE I created and follow this Flow Your To-Do List Framework for every other task. The Flow Framework is built on four pillars: DO, DELEGATE, DELETE, and DIARISE. 1. DO: For tasks that are both important and urgent, action is key. These are the tasks that need to be completed in the next 1-2 weeks. If a task is critical, it’s worth your immediate focus. 2. DELEGATE: You can’t do everything, and that’s okay. Delegate tasks that don’t require your personal touch. Whether it's automating, outsourcing, or assigning them to your team, delegating frees you on tasks that make the biggest impact or bring you the most joy. 3. DELETE: Not every task deserves your attention. If something isn’t essential or isn’t aligned with your goals, it’s time to let it go. Free yourself from low-priority tasks that don’t push you forward. 4. DIARISE: Some tasks aren’t urgent but still important. These are the ones you diarise—scheduled for later, using time-blocking or goal-setting techniques. By diarising larger, long-term tasks, you ensure they get done without overwhelming your current workload. ✅ PRO TIP: Use the PATH goal-setting framework to diarise major tasks, breaking them down into smaller steps that are easier to manage. Want to help your team improve their time management skills? Let's talk about time management training using the Flow & PATH Frameworks. Drop "PATH" in the comments to learn more.

Every week for the past five years, I’ve calculated a single number that determines whether I’ve been productive. It isn’t a revenue or product-related stat. It’s the percentage of my time spent on tasks I actually PLANNED to do. Giving yourself a weekly success score doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s been an insane productivity hack for me because it gives visibility into my work AND gives me something to improve upon. This concept came from Intercom co-founder Des Traynor, who created the perfect Venn diagram of productivity: find the overlap between your email, your to-do list, and your calendar so you can stop letting everyone else control your time. The solution is to track how much of your time aligns with your intentions, AKA your alignment score. Here’s what to do, using this doc that lets you sync your email, calendar, and to-do list: https://lnkd.in/gHyBvgKv 1. Work through your emails and identify which ones have actions. 2. Turn the emails into entries on your to-do list. 3. Slot each entry into a specific time block on your calendar (the template will do it for you). 4. Now, your to-do list has two new columns: when you’re supposed to work on a task and where it came from. At the end of the week, you get a chart that shows what percentage of your time is spent on your planned to-dos vs. reactive work. The system triages emails into different buckets, ensures the important ones make it to your to-do list, merges them with what you already planned to accomplish, then helps you allocate time for each task. Try calculating your score for a month and see what changes! And don’t feel bad if you’re not at 100%—for me, any week that crosses 50% is a good week. 🙂 Are there any productivity hacks you swear by?

Our brains are designed to remember unfinished tasks until we complete them by creating a kind of mental tension in our minds. Scientists call this the Zeigarnik Effect, and we can use it to make sure we don’t forget or ignore large, important tasks. In fact, studies show we're almost twice as likely to remember details of tasks we haven't completed compared to ones we have. And we can use this to our advantage when we need to get things done. Instead of trying to tackle one big task all at once, we can break it into smaller pieces that we do one by one. This approach can: - give us a sense of accomplishment when we finish each smaller piece, which can increase our enjoyment of the overall task. - make it easier to remove the parts of the task we’ve already completed from our mental to-do list, which can reduce overwhelm and make the task seem easier and easier. - increase our motivation to finish the task, thanks to our innate desire to remove the mental tension that the unfinished pieces create. The important thing, though, is to make sure we don’t let this create a sense of guilt, overwhelm, or unnecessary pressure. And the best way to do that is to focus on achieving the accomplished feeling that comes with completing the task rather than any self-critical thinking related to not doing everything at once. It’s also important to make the pieces small enough not to overwhelm us but big enough to feel meaningful. When we do this right, each small win builds momentum toward completing the bigger task. This can keep us more motivated and focused, especially on large tasks that we otherwise don’t find interesting.

Yesterday I posted about ways to help you work through your task list, but how do you know which order to do your tasks in? The first thing I do is create a to-do list. Start by listing all the tasks you need to complete. Having a clear view of your tasks is the first step in choosing what order to do them in. After creating my list, I then use a great tool called the Eisenhower Matrix that helps me prioritise tasks by how urgent and important they are. If you search online you can see how to draw the matrix, it's a simple diagram that allows you to put tasks into 4 categories: ⚠ Urgent and Important: These are top priority tasks that require immediate attention, like deadlines or emergencies. 💡 Important but Not Urgent: These tasks are significant but don't require immediate action. They are often related to long-term goals, planning, and personal growth. 😵 Urgent but Not Important: These tasks demand immediate attention but may not contribute significantly to your long-term goals. They can include interruptions or distractions. These are some of the worst types of tasks for getting in your way of achieving your goals. 😴 Neither Urgent nor Important: These are tasks that can be put on the back burner or delegated because they have minimal impact on your goals. Each of the quadrants on the diagram is associated with an action: ✔ Urgent and important tasks are labelled as "Do First". Get them put into your diary to do immediately. ✔ Important but not urgent tasks should be labelled as "Schedule" (and don't forget to schedule them!). ✖ Urgent but not important tasks should be labelled as "Delegate", or in some cases you may just want to push back and say "no". If it's not important, does it actually need to be done? ❌ Neither urgent nor important tasks should be tagged as "Don't Do" and take them off your list! See, we're getting rid of tasks already and we haven't even started doing them, whoop whoop! There are a few other things I consider when looking at my tasks: ❓ Consider Deadlines. If you have looming deadlines, they should often take precedence. But don't let a task's urgency overshadow its importance. Sometimes, long-term projects need attention even if there's no immediate deadline. ❓ Evaluate Impact and Consequences. Think about the potential impact each task has on your goals or the business. Consider the consequences of not completing a task and the benefits of completing it. ❓ Time and Energy Management. Take your own energy levels and the time of day into account. If you're most productive in the morning, tackle your most critical tasks then. Save routine or less demanding tasks for when your energy dips. My slump is around 3-4pm so I tend to keep that time for admin or fun tasks that are less pressured. Experiment with different methods and find what works best for you. It's all about aligning your efforts with your goals and making the most of your time and resources. #TaskManagement #Prioritising

Ever feel like you're drowning in a sea of tasks, unsure which ones deserve your attention? It's time to transform your to-do list from a source of stress to a roadmap for #success. Enter the 3 P's of Prioritization - your compass for navigating the chaos: 1. Purpose: Does it align with your overall goals? Action: List your top 3 goals for the quarter. For each task, ask: "Does this directly contribute to at least one of these goals?" 2. #Passion: Does it energize and motivate you? Action: Rate each task on a scale of 1-10 for excitement. Prioritize those scoring 7 or higher, and consider delegating or eliminating low-scoring items. 3. Proficiency: Are you the best person for the task? Action: Evaluate your skill level for each task. If you're not the ideal person, can you delegate or outsource it to someone more qualified? By applying these criteria, you'll not only boost #productivity but also find greater fulfillment in your work. Remember, it's not about doing more - it's about doing what matters most. What's your biggest prioritization challenge? Share below, and let's problem-solve together! Follow Sagar Amlani