Ep-006: 80-20 Productivity Hack—The humble but powerful to-do list. The what, why, how and how NOT of using this elegant productivity tool

80-20 productivity hacks is a series on 80 20 Productivity where Anthony Sanni presents and often unpacks actionable, science-backed productivity tools, techniques and practices that help you do more by doing less.

Episode Summary

Do you use to-do lists? If you don't, you should. They seem simple, but running under the hood is a strong engine to turbo-charge your productivity.

If you already use to-do lists, this episode with increase your confidence in using them because you will understand why and how they work as well as give you some ideas to make your to-do-listing more effective.

But what is a to-do list? Why does it work so well? And, more importantly, how do you use them correctly—especially in the 80 20 way—to boost your productivity?

All that and more on this episode of 80 20 Productivity.

Some of the main points (TVF Timestamps):

The 3 major reasons why to-do lists work so well (03:40)

How to-do lists de-clutter your brain and reduce stress and anxiety (06:29)

The vital role of writing it down (14:40)

3 ways NOT to use a to-do list—common mistakes (19:55)

Notes and References

Dr Bluma Zeigarnik (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluma_Zeigarnik )

Robert Cialdini Reference: This can be found in Cialdini’s most popular book— Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion under Principle 2: Commitment and Consistency

Dr Gail Matthews research on Goal Setting

See Research summary from Dominican University in California here Note: Opens a PDF document.
(https://www.dominican.edu/sites/default/files/2020-02/gailmatthews-harvard-goals-researchsummary.pdf)

Reference to Forbes quote here (https://forbesbooks.com/the-science-behind-setting-goals-and-achieving-them/) Actual quote attributed to Dr Matthews: “My study provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of three coaching tools: accountability, commitment, and writing down one’s goals.”

Quote: We overestimate what we can achieve in one day, but underestimate what we can achieve in one year. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the source for this quote exactly. However there were many references floating around online of a similar quote from Bill Gates. This is one of those cases where the value of the idea outweighs accuracy.

Anthony’s Book: The Law of The Vital Few