From the course: Building a Better To-Do List

Using resources as a gauge

From the course: Building a Better To-Do List

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Using resources as a gauge

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- Imagine this. A coworker stops by your desk and takes your attention away from that task you were working on. Your flow has been disrupted, and you're trying to think of what you were doing. That's when attaching resources to your to-do list items can save the day. I define a resource that you'd attach to your to-do list as a person, place or thing. Your boss, your office and your email app, they're all resources. Here's how attaching any of these three types of resources can help you when you've been derailed from working on your to-do list. Number one. The person as a resource is powerful because if you need to speak to let's say your boss about a lot of things, well then you can attach the term "boss" to all of those tasks on your to-do list. Then the next time you sit down with your boss or you email them you'll have an agenda of items to possibly discuss. Other people you can use as resources are entire departments, friends and family. Grouping tasks by people can cut down on the times you disrupt them and paint a great picture of what you've got going on with them. Number two. Some tasks are best done in certain places. Think of it this way. While both your bathroom and kitchen have sinks, you're not going to do the dishes in the bathroom. Attaching locations to tasks will help you make sure you're working on them in the right place as well as the right time. Number three. There are certain tasks that are better to be done using one thing than another. Sure, you could hammer a nail in with the back of a screwdriver, but it would be better to use a hammer, right? So let's say you have your work email handled in Outlook, and you're personal email in Gmail. It'd be more practical to mark emails you need to deal with through your work email with Outlook, and practical for you to mark the personal emails using Gmail. Using what you need to have at your disposal attached to your tasks will work wonders for making your to-do list more doable. Theodore Roosevelt said, "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have." If you want to live up to that mantra, then start attaching the resources you need to have to the tasks on your to-do list.

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