Our to-do list tend to be a representation of our workload.
We typically have between 10–15 tasks to do during our day, with varying priority levels associated to them. The core problem with our task management tends to be with how many we’ve loaded up for our day.
Now, don’t get me wrong — getting more done feels better collectively, but let’s be fair to ourselves — unless we’ve had a pretty decent day — it is rare we end up completing all 10–15 tasks — without overloading ourselves.
Normally what happens is we feel overwhelmed because we get to the end of the workday and we have only done 7 of those 15 tasks, and that sometimes that does make us feel under-accomplished.
Picking the tasks for our day is something we don’t review day-by-day.
We assume what is on our plates is the best thing for our work — it could well be, but a lot of the time — we end up doing what other people assign us or work that ticks a box, but might not present a deliverable.
I’m thinking about the times I’ve pumped out 20 videos in the month on Keep Productive and not even looked back to think “could I have been doing more hard-hitting videos” — a real-life quantity over quality approach.