Don’t Go Shopping When Hungry (And Other Productivity Advice).

If You’ve ever made the mistake of going to the supermarket when hungry, you will know how hunger can cause you to buy more than you need. The time to go to the supermarket is when you are full. That way, you will only buy what you genuinely require.

The same applies to your daily to-do list. If you begin with an empty list, you will add much more than you could possibly do in a day. This is because we hunger to make the list long, so we can feel busy — which is a bit ironic, considering most people complain about being busy. To avoid this, figure out your core work— the work you are employed to do (not the work you volunteer to do). When your task list is already populated with tasks that must be done, you will resist adding more to the list.

When making your shopping list, you will write specific items down. You are not going to do very well at the supermarket if you write down things like:

• Sauce

• Drinks

• Meat

• Dairy

• Fruit

• Vegetables

• Spread

• Cleaning stuff

This list will be confusing unless you purchase the same things each time you go to the supermarket. What sort of sauce do you need? What kind of drinks? Tea, coffee, wine, or juice? You’re more likely to go around the supermarket in a daze trying to guess what you require.

Similarly, if you write your to-do list with things like:

• Ogilvy proposal

• Sales report

• Next week’s board meeting

• Expense report — April & May

• Louis’ travel certificate

• Wi-Fi Router

• Summer holiday

These are not tasks. These are random statements that don’t tell you anything meaningful. Instead, write the tasks out with exactly what needs to be done. For instance:

• Arrange meeting with Karen to talk about Ogilvy proposal

• Write May’s sales report

• Begin preparing a presentation for next week’s board meeting

• Complete April and May’s expense reports

• Apply for Louis’ travel certificate

• Order new Wi-Fi Router

• Talk to Martha and Florence about this summer’s holiday.

Writing tasks this way prevents procrastination, but more importantly, you can better estimate how much time you will need to complete the tasks.

Have you noticed that when you go to the supermarket, you will find all the fruit and vegetables, fresh meat and fish in their location (usually around the edge of the floor)? Tea and coffee are in their isle, and dairy products are again in their refrigerated area. It makes sense, right? Finding what you need would be almost impossible if everything was randomly placed around the supermarket.

When it comes to your tasks, why would you group them randomly? Tasks should be grouped by the type of work. For example, in our list above, arranging the meeting with Karen could be grouped with your other communications, Writing May’s sales report and doing your expenses can be done in the same session of work and talking to Martha and Florence likely can be done when at home with your family. You could also order your Wi-Fi router when at home later in the day and apply for Louis’ travel certificate.

And finally, when you return home after your visit to the supermarket, you don’t leave your shopping bags on the kitchen counter and take things out when you need them, do you? Instead, you unpack your shopping and put items that need to go in the fridge in the fridge. Frozen foods go in the freezer, and dry goods go into their right cupboard.

The same applies to your files. Don’t just leave them lying on your desktop in the hope you will find them when you need them again. You won’t. Put those files in their rightful place — project files into correctly named project folders, photos, in your photos application etc. You will save yourself a lot of time, and when you need a particular file, you will know where it is and, therefore, where to look for it.

You could also learn how to use the universal search functionality on your computer. Again, that’s going to save you a lot of time. That’s like having your own robot that brings you what you need when needed.

It’s astonishing how we have processes and systems for doing our domestic chores, yet we do not apply these common-sense approaches to our tasks. Just a little thought and some experimentation could lead to less friction in your life, and perhaps, just maybe, you could begin to feel a lot less busy. But then again, being busy all the time might be what you crave.

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