Organize your life into categories, assign each a weight, organize to-dos and time-blocks around those categories according to their weights.
Why
Doing a commitment inventory serves to align the energy you spend with the relative importance of the task to you. It prevents you from spacing out on areas of your life, or falling too deeply into a rabbit hole.
How to
- List everything you spend your time on
- Group that list into logical categories
- Assign each category a percentage of your life you want to spend doing it
- Ensure each category has enough time to do it well. If you’re spending 5% of your time in a lot of areas, you’re not really focusing on any of them
- Organize your to-dos around your categories .If you can’t really fit a “to-do” that’s come across your plate into a category, ask yourself if you really should do it at all
- Break down big tasks into small checklists
- Work in bursts, aligned with your categories. Do Pomodoro Technique 🍅 -style work bursts, themed around a given Category.
See also the Step 4 - How Do I Assess My Life? - very related.