To-do lists are often rubbish.
They only ever get longer. You have the sense of constantly being on a treadmill. For most of developers, we’ll never complete our to-do list.
In that sense, a to-do list is a demoralizing productivity tool.
But what if you distilled a list of the most important, achievable tasks?
Imagine instead of a to-do list, using something much simpler. A forcing function for getting the most meaningful work done.
1–3 items per day
Instead of a to-do list, I propose a daily checklist with only a handful of items.
This system can revolutionize your productivity, because it forces you to decide what’s important. You can forget the rest.
Often, the most important thing makes all the other tasks easier or irrelevant. Targeting just a handful of important things — 1 to 3 tasks — keeps you pointed at the right targets.
As a software developer, this focuses my day. Out of all the uncertainties, requests, and distractions I know that the day is a success if I get 1–3 things done that were important.
Where a to-do list is demoralizing, a short daily checklist is empowering.