Now or Never Productivity: Use the Three “Now Lists”
The Ever-Present Now
There is no past.
There is no future.
There is only the Ever-Present Now.
That was one of my Dad’s favorite sayings. He attributed it to Lloyd C. Douglas, but I can’t verify that. Regardless the source, there’s truth in it.
The only instant you have any control over is this one. Right Now. Your past Nows already happened. Your future Nows are yet to come. For you, Now is all that exists — and all that will ever exist.
Productivity is answering one simple question — What do I do Right Now? — and then doing it!
A well-designed productivity system supports you as you answer that question again and again. This article examines the system components directly tied to Now and explains how they work. (For a deep dive into a fully-featured system, join Cohort Six of my course AP Productivity!)
Three choices for Now
There are three ways you can use Now:
1. Focus on Core Work
Core Work includes the projects and tasks related to your job or other important areas of responsibility. This is the default use of Now, at least in theory. When we talk productivity, Core Work is what we usually mean.
2. Focus on System Work
System Work is the planning, reviewing, process improvement, etc., that helps you do your Core Work more efficiently and effectively. System Work invests current Nows to make future Nows easier.
3. Focus on something else
This can mean distraction (which we’d generally rather avoid), but it can also mean relaxation. The question is intent: If you are intentionally “doing nothing,” that can be powerfully productive! Leisure is a great use of Now!
The Three “Now Lists”
If the moment of truth for productivity is Right Now, a productivity system should be designed to make Now as fruitful as possible. To accomplish that, I suggest you implement three “Now Lists” in your productivity system:
- Agenda
- Log
- Capture & Dispatch
Agenda
Your Agenda answers the question What do I intend to do today? It converts potential work into completed work.
The Agenda is like a fuel injector. It takes tasks as fuel, mixes it with the air of time, and fires the fuel/air mix into Now. Too many tasks will flood your engine, and it won’t run. Too few tasks will leave you sputtering.
The fuel for your Agenda comes from other Lists in your system: Calendars, Recurring Tasks, Procedures, Projects, and many more that are explained in detail in AP Productivity: Cohort. Some tasks should be designed to show up in your Agenda automatically — others should be decisions you make during your System Work.
The Agenda is fed in such a way that restricts capacity. There’s only so much you can do in a day, and your Agenda reflects that. It also accounts for the unexpected: no day ever goes exactly the way you envision it!
Log
The Log answers the question What did I do? and records the work you complete.
What’s the value in logging your work? For one, you’ll have a record you can review to identify friction points in your work processes. When do you get stuck? What times of day are best for creative work, or administrative work?
There’s even bigger value in the Log, though. When you capture your processes, you can identify recurring work and develop Procedures to make that work easier in the future. No more re-inventing wheels!
Work should produce two results: the Core/System Work outcome, and the process used to do the work. If you capture the process at the same time the work is finished — by using a Log — you won’t miss the opportunity to simplify your future work by recognizing what you’ve done before.
Capture & Dispatch
Your Capture & Dispatch (C&D) list answers the question What do I need to remember? It captures Ideas and Tasks that arise Now but are not directly related to the work you’re doing.
(In GTD terminology, this would be called an Inbox. I use the name C&D to avoid the negative associations of email that come along with the word “inbox.”)
By providing an outlet for potential distractions, C&D keeps you focused on the Core or System Work — or the relaxation! — that you mean to be doing.
The C&D list feeds into the other Lists in your system, the same ones that fuel the Agenda. In that sense, C&D serves as a front door for future potential work.
A system for Now
Use Agenda, Log, and Capture & Dispatch lists consistently, and over time your productivity will skyrocket. Right Now is the only moment you have any control over, yet few productivity systems address that “last mile” from the task list to the actual completion of tasks.
AP Productivity: Cohort helps you do tasks, not just gather them. Because productivity isn’t adding tasks to your list; productivity is checking them off.
If you implement the tools provided in AP Productivity: Cohort, you will dramatically improve your productivity — not by 3 or 4%, by 3 or 4 times.
We start with simple mechanics — types of Lists and how those Lists operate on each other (and themselves!). Over the eight weeks of the course, we learn advanced concepts that emerge from those simple mechanics, and iterate on the system you’re custom-building for yourself.
Cohort Six launches October 7, 2022. If you’re ready to invest a few weeks and focused System Work into making your future more productive (and relaxing!), sign up for AP Productivity Cohort Six today!
(Note: The links in this article will always lead to the next upcoming cohort, so if it’s past October 7, you can still click it!)
Learn more about productivity coach R.J. Nestor at rjn.st/links
