Reduce the anxiety and overwhelm with this minimalist productivity system so you get things done and still carve out time for yourself.

+++

Every day we face a firehose of information coming at us from multiple directions.

Emails.

Social media.

The random PSA on the train to work.

There are too many tasks and projects to keep up with.

And no time to work on our own personal endeavors and goals.

No effective productivity system in place to handle it all.

We’re failing to keep up.

As a former stay at home dad of two young kids who built his own online business while keeping said humanoids alive, I can say that productivity and time management are my super powers.

It’s time that I shared my powers for good.

Avengers: Assemble.

I developed a minimalist productivity system that allows me to stay on top of everything without feeling like I’m drowning in my to do lists.

And without using a bunch of fancy smartphone apps and tech to do it.

This is how I manage my tasks and projects and it helps me stay sane as a dad while building out my personal brand business.

It keeps things safe, organized and timely. And allows me to focus on the task at hand so I can get shit done.

Let’s get into it.

+++

Building a productivity system that actually works starts with doing less

Almost 41-percent of to-do lists are left unfinished.

There’s this thing called the Zeigarnik Effect.

We remember uncompleted tasks over the completed ones, due to the anxiety these unfinished to do list items cause us.

In other words, maybe you finished that presentation deck for a new client. But, instead of feeling accomplished, you’re still mad at yourself for not getting around to that end of month report that was on your list.

That anxiety can be crippling and it can bleed into other areas of your life, like poor sleep.

Poor sleep leads to a lack of creativity, which leads to poor performance.

And the cycle continues.

What productivity really means

It’s not about overloading yourself with so many things, trying to be some superhero that can get all of it done in an impossible amount of time.

No.

Instead, it’s about prioritizing and being efficient while still carving out time for your own life.

Productivity can be broken down into what I call the FUN Framework.

(Cheesy acronym? Yes. Will you remember it now because of the silly acronym? Also … yes.)

F – Focus on the priority tasks
Get really clear on what you need to accomplish to make each and every day successful and eliminate as much fluff from your day as possible.

Your powerpoint deck was the biggest task of the day. It was likely unrealistic to even think you’d get to the monthly report, too.

What is that one focus? Find that every single day.

U – Utilize time wisely with systems
Start viewing your tasks from the lens of:

When are you going to work on the task and how much time will you realistically need to complete that task?

If you have a long-term project, you’ll need to focus on the daily progress markers you’ll need to achieve in order to keep the project moving forward.

N – Nurture high quality
Use your time to eliminate all distractions and produce good quality work (otherwise, what’s the point?).

In other words: Do fewer things really freaking well.

Here’s the minimalist productivity system that works for you

With this approach, you’ll have a system that allows you to capture your thoughts in one place so you can actually remember those ideas as they come.

You’ll have a method to control your calendar.

And you can do that without too many distractions so you can get shit done without stressing yourself out.

It starts with managing ideas as they come.

Capture your ideas with a notepad or app

Ever find yourself in the middle of the grocery store and all of the sudden a random genius idea strikes? You cracked the nut on that project you’ve toiled over for days.

You just need to remember this fantastic idea.

Narrator: You will not simply remember this idea. Chances are, you will forget some of the details before you even hit the checkout aisle.

Instead, you must write it down. Immediately.

That’s the importance of having an idea capture system.

This doesn’t take much.

I started carrying a pocket-sized notebook everywhere.

(You can use a notes app on your phone for this.)

Dedicate one specific place for capturing your ideas and stick with it. Avoid random one-off notes spread all over various apps and folders.

Create an idea capturing file in your notes app and load all of your thoughts in there.

Label it as your “Ideation Station,” or something that stands out so you can get right back to it.

You’re going to want to refer to this option early and often.

Where do those ideas go? Depends on the note being taken.

If it’s an action item it goes right to your to do list, your calendar … or to a backlog.

Shift from a To Do list to a 2-Do List

To Do Lists are great. You absolutely should do them.

Where people mess up is by crowding their To Do Lists with way too many things.

They never prioritize those things based on 1) importance and 2) how much time is required to complete them.

You can’t have four projects on your To Do List that each take four hours to complete. There’s not enough time in your day; you’ve already failed.

The job of making a To Do List that actually works for you is to prioritize.

What are the 1-2 most important (“do or die”) things you must accomplish today?

And we will now call this your 2-Do List.

Notion is a decent place to start with your 2-Do list. Or even an app on your phone. Sticky notes. Whiteboards. A planner. A simple notebook.

The method doesn’t matter.

Pick one and get started.

My productivity system is mostly analog. Even my 2-Do List is still pen to paper.

I think it allows for the flexibility to scratch things out, draw arrows and make quick notes on my notepad.

The little annoying adulting and admin things that pop up like annoying mosquitoes throughout the week go to a separate list.

This is called your Backlog.

Anytime a mosquito task strikes, I ask myself: Can this be knocked out in two minutes?

Yes? Then let’s do it now and be done with it.

No? Add it to my backlog.

Once or twice per week, I’ll block out time in my calendar to swat the mosquitos.

Make it a game to see how many you can get down in an hour.

Starting today, your 2-Do List should be filled out tonight for tomorrow’s projects.

It gives you a direct action plan to get started as soon as you wake up and can alleviate some of that anxiety even more.

You might be able to sleep just a tad better knowing your day is already mapped out before you go to bed.

When you identify your biggest 2-Do List items of the day, your job is to then schedule when you’ll take on those tasks and projects and block out the time to work on them in your calendar.

If it’s a task, a project or something that needs my attention … it gets scheduled.

Schedule everything and protect your calendar

Use your calendar to get better control of your day (and week).

I just use my basic Apple Calendar since I’ve got an iPhone and use a Mac.

If you’re a Google fan, that calendar works, too.

Anything you can access digitally since so many appointments and schedules shift around and it’s much easier to update digitally.

You’ll use the calendar to schedule when you’re going to work on your 2-Do List items and even some of your important personal life stuff.

This is how you build a productivity system that works not just for your career, but your life.

Why this works:

We are twice as likely to complete a task when we set an intention for when we’ll work on that task.

Need to get that big project finished? Schedule it.

Want to work out consistently? Schedule it.

You must also protect your time and calendar.

If you’ve blocked out time to focus on a priority task, then there are zero exceptions (barring an emergency) for breaking that commitment.

Decline the meeting request.

That email can wait.

If you find yourself drowning in meetings, adopt the 1-for-1 approach to protect your time even further: For every meeting request you receive, block out a proportionate amount of time for you.

Example: You get a 30-minute meeting request for Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. Immediately go and block off 30 minutes for your own focused time for Wednesday at 2:00 p.m.

Pro tip: Find your energy flow and schedule around that.

For most people, that tends to be in the mornings, but it doesn’t have to be just because this rando on Al Gore’s Internet told you.

Maybe you are more creative in the afternoons around lunchtime.

Or at night after the kids go to bed.

Whenever that time for you is that you are going to be locked in and ready to produce high quality work, block that time off in your digital calendar.

This is when you’ll focus like never before for the amount of time you’ve determined.

Implement the weekly planning session

Once per week you’ll sit down and plan out the next seven days. You pick the day for this planning session, whatever makes the most sense for you.

My weekly planning sessions are on Sundays.

What’s on the schedule that you need to consider:

• Doctor visits
• School activities
• Work trips or important meetings

Determine your key priorities for the upcoming week. What are your big “Do or Die” tasks for the week? Any major projects that need extra focused concentration?

Review the ideas you’ve captured in your Ideation Station. Is there anything worth considering for the next seven days?

Anything that needs adding or scheduling from the backlog list?

It’s during this 15-minute planning session where you’ll set up your calendar so you can get shit done.

Do not lose sight of your personal time during this planning session.

Have you mapped out time for family?

Personal fulfillment (like reading or playing games or self-care)?

What about some time to improve your skill set (whether for career or just for pleasure)?

When are you going to work out this week?

Does that workout schedule need to change because of anything else going on in your life? Schedule your workouts or else they won’t happen. You don’t need much more than 20 minutes a few times per week to get into great shape.

Schedule all of this during the hectic work week.

If you don’t prioritize your time, someone else will.

Block out the distractions and produce high quality work

None of this matters if you are just going to grab your phone and start doomscrolling.

Break this addiction with your phone to free up more focus on your priority tasks.

We do that with the Landline Method:

Take your smartphone and treat it like an old school landline phone during work hours (or at least during that priority task work block so you can focus on delivering high quality work).

The phone will sit there and if you need to use it, you must physically get up to do so.

Just like we did when we had those old school rotary phones in our youth.

Need to answer a text? Awesome. Get up and go to your phone and stay there with your phone until the texting is complete.

This simple approach will cut back dramatically on those random check-ins (we pick up our phones 144 times per day on average).

Since I work from home, I’m the primary parent contact for my kids’ school due to proximity and schedule flexibility.

I cannot simply turn my phone off during the day for “deep work” like the experts preach.

But, I do limit the notifications I can receive during my focused and priority work blocks. Only my wife and the school can reach me.

Everything else is shut off until I emerge from my major 2-Do List priorities.

Smartphones are smarter now, you can do the same.

It’s through this kind of structure that you will get more freedom of time back in your day.

A productivity system that makes sense for real people, not influencers

To recap, here’s the productivity workflow for normal people:

• Capture your ideas with a notepad or app
• Shift from a To Do list to a 2-Do list
• Schedule everything and protect your calendar
• Implement the weekly planning session
• Block out the distractions and produce high quality work

Now you can finally get to work while saving time on that work with a proven system.

And that system should unlock more time in your day to start doing some things that light you up.

I hope you found this useful. If so, I’d appreciate it if you sent this newsletter to one person you think would benefit from my writing today.

And as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “productivity system” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Until next time,
Pete