Listen and Learn

On Twitter today I said:

Right now the value of my to-do list is that it tells me not what to do but what I didn’t get done. That’s surprisingly useful to know.

It shouldn’t be that surprising to me. After all, I’ve written about limiting work to capacity and learning to live with those limits. But when I’m busiest is when I need to be reminded of these things. For me, productivity is about admitting what I’m not going to do and focusing my efforts on the rest. When something keeps slipping from one day’s to do list to the next, it’s telling me something. When there are twelve things crossed off my list but two of the most important things aren’t, it’s telling me something. When I look at the undone things and think “that’s not a big deal,” it’s telling me something.

Good productivity tools tell you things. It’s your job to listen to them.

Update

Fitness: Ran 4 miles
Sun, Moon, and Stars: 303 words, 372 seven-day average, 264 average, 36691 total, 1309 to go for the week; 6-day streak