We Used to be Tasked Oriented – In history, we had very little access to an exact time, and it primarily didn’t help people because they were task-oriented and had to complete tasks and not just finish and start work at times. So, for most of human existence, all time was just for us to survive.

Now it is a Conveyer Belt – It feels like time flies off the end of a conveyor belt and that we can never keep up. It makes us frustrated and stressed.

We Have to Make Hard Choices – To get over this stress and competition for our time and attention. We must make hard decisions and learn to say no.

We Distract Ourselves Because of Time Stress – When the stress gets worse, we start to distract ourselves with silly games and other timewasters.

Is Tech to Blame? Tech allows us to record and organize tasks, will enable us never to drop any task, and reminds us to do it all. We think with this efficiency. We can do it all. We should drop tasks and pare down the list. Tech is not to blame. Our harmful use of task lists is to blame, and if we used the tool only to track the critical tasks we should do, tech would be a powerful tool.

Ruthlessly Eliminate and Say 'No" – To get to a place where you can use your time better and reduce your stress, distractions, and feeling overwhelmed, pick the things that should be done and start cutting tasks.

Time and Attention are the Most Important

The Shortness of Life – Seneca suggested that everyone was wasting their lives on silly stuff like politics and parties. Instead, do the things that matter.

We Try to Force Focus – We try our best to cut out noise with headphones or tech because we are so overwhelmed. If your lists and options are already paired down, you will not have to do so much after-the-fact elimination.

Get Off the Conveyor Belt – Time to get off the conveyor belt and focus on what is essential. Next show, we will discuss tactics to get out of the productivity trap.

Challenge

Write up a list of all the things you are expected to do in your personal life. Maybe it's painting something that you promised your wife you would do. Perhaps it's setting up that thing you bought last year, and you never quite got to it. Or perhaps it's just getting around to some of the mundane tasks you have around your house that you mean to do. Write those all down and next week, we'll talk about what you can do to start chopping that list into something you can accomplish.

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