Transform Your To-do List With These Simple Tips

[@PASTORJ880]

One of the greatest things Ive learned in my productivity pursuits through your programs has been cutting down the To Do List, the more concise it is the more productive I am…thanks for the tips, Carl!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you. You're very welcome and I'm happy to have been able to help.

[@mayankk2800]

Carl speaks the truth always. Right on the point

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hahaha, thank you 🙂

[@martinwroe6319]

Fantastic video ! Concistecy , saying no and being realistic. Monk mode turned up to 11. Thank you Carl 🎉

[@AmitGupta-po4gf]

Monk mode? Wow. Just Googled it. I didn't know that such a thing existed. It's fascinating.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you, Martin.

[@MWKTravelServices]

Yes, thank you for this and need to totally redo my TODOIST and stay consistent & realistic

[@Carl_Pullein]

Always happy to help.

[@adrienribot]

Hey Carl, I just want to thank you for your work, very simple and pragmatics advices as always. You make m'y life easier 🙂

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you. Glad you like the advice I give here.

[@shnam928]

Thanks👍 This was exactly what my planning was missing.

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're very welcome. 🙂

[@MrTubeityourself]

Thanks very much this is a good refresher. The concepts are simple but seems real life and the details are the complication. One thing I can't quite get straight is when I would put something into the task manager under say next week or when it would go into a project note or even a future project list in my notes. Might need to sign up for some coaching...

[@Carl_Pullein]

There will always be a few factors there. Urgency, available time this week, even how you are feeling (if you're lucky that can be a consideration)

[@paulahunt414]

In the past you mention "admin time", i was wondering what task do you consider admin time?

[@gabrielcabral4102]

I think it can relate tô planning the Day, journaling

[@Carl_Pullein]

Anything such as doing my social media posting, updating sales information, expenses, tax returns, responding to these comments (LOL), anything my accountant asks me for etc

[@paulahunt414]

@Carl_Pullein Carl, thank you for the info..

[@IMMERSIVEVOICE]

I know people come here for the productivity but I come here because I love the Seamaster. I got one with the grey dial blue bezel. Obviously I took it off the metal bracelet as soon as I got it and put it on a matching blue rubber deployment strap. My GADA watch

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hahahaha I've considered changing the bracelet a few times but not done so. The great thing about it is every time I look at it I remember all the amazing places I've been to with it over the last 23 years.

[@MrTubeityourself]

I have little idea what you are saying but you aren't the only one - I've seen other comments in the past asking about his attire preferences/recommendations. Edit: Just looked up seamaster (which wasn't on calendar oops). Probably out of my league for a couple decades or so but I can see why you'd like it.

[@christophersophys5363]

As always ! 🤩 👏

[@joe59golfer]

Hi Carl, better productivity is a goal in 2025 and I really appreciate your videos. Question though. I understand your thought that time blocking with the calendar is the most productive tool but when I'm planning I find myself time blocking on my Google calendar with a particular important task or to-do in mind. So now that time block "event" seems to be redundant with my Todoist task, particularly when giving a title to the event, and so now the calendar starts to look like the task manager too. Is overlap between the two OK or is it too detailed of an approach to time blocking on the calendar?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Joe, I generally recommend rather than scheduling specific tasks on your calendar, you schedule types of tasks. For example, "project work", "admin" or "communications". That way you have some flexibility in case priorities change.

[@BNeault]

Nice

[@maikeru_pk]

Great video, as always :) One small notice from me... You're not happy of adding "deadline" functionality to Todoist? ;)

[@Carl_Pullein]

I don't need them. My deadlines are in my calendar.

[@vpgreg]

I like your content, but I disagree here. "Think about..." or "consider..." tasks can definitely be useful. If a decision is needed for something but I'm too busy to make that decision today, I place it on a less busy day (usually a weekend) when I know I will be less tired and will have the time to make a sensible decision. I don't think that's woolly. For me, it's only the same as a "plan" task but perhaps a bit less formal or with less writing.

[@ArnoutDrenthel]

Yeah, this is the part I am struggling with also. I use "Think about…" or "Decide on…" to postpone things I come across and have or want to do something with as soon as I get around to it. Like a new piece of software I want to check out. A subscription I may want to end. Something a bit bigger than a quick task that first needs some thinking about on how I'd approach that. But it's a is a slippery slope. Some are more 'need to do' than others that are 'would be nice to do's' They tend to fill up my task list quite easily. But it feels oversimplified to put them somewhere in my notes, to never be seen again. I am really curious how others (or Carl himself) deal with this!

[@Carl_Pullein]

The issue I have with this type of "task" is they are not "tasks". (Although I would say "brainstorm" is a task". They are also things that rarely get done until something concrete needs to be done, and then it's no longer "thinking", it's doing something. I would ask, why do you need to think about something? What piece of information is missing? It's the missing information that is the task. "Research", "ask about", "find out about" etc. If you ever find yourself adding "think about" or "consider", go a little deeper. What's stopping you from making that decision right now? Your task manager should not encourage procrastination. It should be a place to find concrete, actionable things to do. The more "woolly" tasks you have, the less effective the task manager becomes over time. (and I've been down that road so many times.)

[@AmitGupta-po4gf]

@@Carl_Pullein I convert such things into something "tangible" as you suggested in the video.. For example, "think about sales plan for your business" would be translated into "prepare sales plan document" which would be done in several sessions. During writing that document, I need to "think about" that stuff and I get to document my thoughts as well. You may or may not want to use that document, but the process of writing makes it tangible and more fun.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@AmitGupta-po4gf That's pretty much how I do it too, Amit.

[@AlexMercadoGo]

As a design thinking facilitator, I would suggest “ideate” and “narrow down” / “pick” as rephrasing a of “think about” with a clearer definition of done. These should be time-boxed so that they don’t go on indefinitely.

[@Belcam12]

Why are you meeting Bond villains so often these days.....???

[@Carl_Pullein]

hmm... I could tell you but....

[@modestbukowski]

I don't recognize this tone of voice from you. Come across as condescending and arrogant. Of course you can put down buying gift for X as an actual task. Rather than adding it to another list and having 2 places and don't know where to look, and forget about things. And what ends up as a note vs a task? Why do you have put down record a video as a task? You have recording on your calendar so just do it, you don't need it as a task - see how that sounds? A rare L from you.