Do you need to plan more or less?

I used to have from 20 to 50 tasks planned for every day, and I couldn’t remember a day when I finished them all.

I could barely move them to my “Tomorrow” list at 11 pm.

Over and over again.

And then it hit me.

What if I could just plan the tasks that are scheduled for the particular day?

Like "Send an invoice to Jill on Thursday".

And after I finish them, I would be able to take more from the prioritized backlog, not overestimating my strengths.

Sounds like a great idea!

Didn’t work out.

My brain: “Aha, I have only 5 for today! Let’s do nothing for the whole day and then allocate a few hours in the evening to finish the planned tasks.”

And then I found my deadly weapon. 

I started to use contexts. 

What are contexts? 

It’s an availability of tools like phone, computer, internet connection, or a specific location, like an office or home.

Now when I’m planning the task that needs to be done, I always label it with a proper context.

For example, if it’s an email, it could be done via phone, while commuting. 

If it’s a board meeting, it could be done in the office only. And so on.

Simple as that.

I label all my tasks with an appropriate context right at the moment when I take them from the Inbox.

And then I filter them by contexts during the day, doing them group by group.

The results shocked me.

I started to be on time with my tasks.

Messages and email are not overwhelming me the whole day.

And the general number of tasks I accomplish every day increased almost twice!

The thing I realized is that a task-management system is always work-in-progress. 

All you need to succeed is to face your weaknesses and experiment a lot.