Docs Concepts Steering attention
Give everything a place. Plan what's next.
What keeps things from being lost, what lets them rest, and why some should go.
A list keeps things. A plan quiets them.#
Unfinished goals keep pulling at your attention. A specific plan, how and when, settled them.[3] A written reminder does another job: the task got done more,[21] but people thought about it just as much.[23]
A reminder and a plan do different jobs
From the studySo a list keeps things from being lost, and a plan quiets only what it covers.
Put everything in Next, so nothing is lost. Don't try to plan it all.
Let what you leave alone expire.#
Every item kept forever keeps pulling, and a long list quietly sets the pace you expect of yourself (ch. 1). A shorter deadline got people to act sooner,[39] and stepping back from goals out of reach went with better well-being.[9] An end on each item asks, now, whether it still matters.
When an item starts to expire, decide: bump it if it still matters, or let it go.
End the night on tomorrow's plan.#
Before bed, young adults wrote either tomorrow's to-do list or what they'd already done.
Writing tomorrow down, at bedtime
From the studyThe more specific the list, the faster they fell asleep. So keep the look back short, and end on the plan.
Write each item in Next as exactly what you'll do, and end the night on tomorrow's plan.