Habits List

The Habits list – for the repetitive tasks I do at work or at home; the things that I should be doing regularly. This allows me to see when I am not doing important repetitive tasks like exercising and studying. An example such as this can be recreated in Excel or used as is.

Of course I keep other lists:

To-Do List

A list of 3 to 5 things to accomplish today and a list for the rest of the week in a police notebook.

Done List

The reverse of your TDL, I write down everything I accomplish in the day, and I check off items in my TDL.

The best part of this excellent article:

MERLIN MANN’S TOP FIVE SUPER-OBVIOUS, “NO-DUH” WAYS TO IMMEDIATELY IMPROVE YOUR LIFE:

- REDUCE NOISE. We all have innumerable distractions that are part of work and life. Get hard-nosed about the elective diversions that you invite into your world. Cancel a subscription for a magazine you never read.

- WRITE THINGS DOWN. Ever find a piece of paper in your office with seven digits on it? It’s a phone number, but whose? Get ruthless about jotting down ephemeral information if you’ll need to recall it later.

- FOCUS ON ACTION. My favourite productivity book, Getting Things Done, highlights how anything you want to do in life eventually comes down to intentional physical activity — even if it’s something as mundane as “take out the trash” or “call landlord.” Learn the habit of planning your world around action verbs rather than fuzzy nouns.

- GET OUT OF YOUR INBOX. Many of us are habituated to living out of our e-mail inbox, voicemail and the other “in baskets” of our lives. Instead, try to set aside regular, periodic times when you trawl for the new content in your life — then get back to work!

- GET PICKIER. You are the sole person in your life who gets to decide where your time and attention can go. Take that responsibility seriously by not wasting time on junk. You know in your heart what’s really important to you — does the current direction of your time and attention reflect that?

Sound advice that we should all follow.