The Unconventional To Do

We all hate the mundane: it’s boring and we can’t get into the flow state. Your brain is for having ideas, not storing them. Let’s mute distractions and meet deadlines in a way that takes less effort using some unconventional task tracking techniques.

The Strategies:

1. The Busy KitchenEverything planned out for the next few days. If you are organized and enjoy having a plan for the week, this is the one for you. It is almost a calendar x To Do hybrid.

2. The MasterChefWorks great, very portable and little friction to jot down quick tasks. If you have little time or you are on the go often, then scroll down to MasterChef.

3. The Horizon Chaser This is a long term goal setting framework that my dad taught me in a small beach town in South Africa where we used to do New Years.

4. Themed Days Themed Days is a great strategy if you are someone that likes to fixate on one aspect of a thing at a time and get into the flow state.

   
   

The Busy Kitchen:

The Busy Kitchen is a great system created by Jake Knapp, a guest instructor at Harvard business school and co-founder of Google Meets. The idea is that you are able to have many tasks on your Might Do List, but you can rank them by priority. This eliminates the decision of which task you Might Do next. It is a higher maintenance system and can only be used on paper. There are 4 main parts to the list: The Front Burner, The Back Burner, The Kitchen Sink, and Extra Space. The Front Burner is for your highlight. Only one task is allowed on your Front Burner. Your Back Burner is your second most important task and finally your Kitchen Sink is for reminders or tasks that don't fall into your Front or Back Burner. This method is great at isolating important tasks and setting your priorities. It also eliminates the need to decide what task you are going to do, but is quite high maintenance, just like a busy kitchen.

Materials required to execute this method: One piece of paper and a pen.

The MasterChef:

The MasterChef is a great system. Simple, versatile and low maintenance. Grab an A5-ish piece of paper, sticky note stack, pencil or pen, and a CD case or sunglasses case, or really, any small case that can fit a pen. On top of the fresh sticky note stack, write your daily highlight. On one side of your paper, write  your mundane or habit tasks and on the other side, write your projects or tasks ranking them from highest  to lowest priority, trying to be as minimal as possible.  Right, now let me explain: your mundane or one time tasks are just tasks that you can tick off and use for a reminder. Your other piece of paper or other side of paper has your projects with the second most important at the top (the most important has the royal sticky note seat). Your side with your project is the menu. These will replace your highlight once you are finished. I love this strategy and I use it everyday.

Materials required to execute this method: One piece of paper and a pen.

The Horizon Chaser:

The Horizon Chaser is all about setting and achieving your big dreams. The idea is to work out what is most important to you. Maybe it's starting a business or running a marathon? Then you will create bite sized tasks to meet those goals.

The Horizon Chaser is a method taught to me by my dad in Knysna. My dad likes to set goals each year for himself and he always seems to achieve them. I was curious so I decided to give it a go. I set my horizons and small tasks and found that I could take small steps towards my biggest dreams every day. 

Okay, let's do it: Start by drawing a circle with the things that you have to get done in the next week. Then make another bubble, your second horizon line, and write down the things you want to get done in the next month. Then do a bubble for a year and one for 10 years. 

Start light with the amount of goals and tasks you set because once you have determined your goals for a year and 10 years, you will have to derive smaller tasks that you think will help you make progress to the bigger goals. Then pull these tasks back down to the next week and month bubbles, so that you have something small to do to make progress every day. This way you will come up with an actionable plan for your long term goals.

This framework is a layered approach. You set long term goals and derive smaller, bite sized tasks. Try to do this process every month if possible and date your lists so you can see how your goals have changed over time.

Materials required to execute this method: One piece of paper and a pen.

Themed Days:

The Themed Days approach binds certain days of the week to a type of task or even a large project. The idea is to give yourself one singular focus so that you can get into a flow state.

The Themed Days strategy is one I developed from learning about Tim Ferris’s productivity strategies. For the uninitiated, Tim Ferris is a productivity guru, investor and best selling author. He is the goat of productivity. Ferris batches his work in order to tackle similar tasks at the same time which has a bunch of benefits. Batching your work into similar batches reduces decision fatigue and limits procrastination. By the time you are working you have already decided what you are working on for that 2 hour slot or day and so you do not need to figure out what to work on. Additionally, you cannot stray to other tasks that are more fun or easier because you have set out what you are going to do beforehand. Your efficiency will also improve because you will enter the flow state. The flow state is a type of mode your brain checks into when it feels immersed in the task at hand. By choosing a singular focus for a long period of time you give your brain the time to check into the flow state which will help you get your work done to a high quality and efficiently.

Materials required to execute this method: One piece of paper and a pen.

Don’t be busy, be productive.