One Big Thing: a simple way to do more by planning less

I used to be really into to-do lists. That’s a weird interest to have, but it’s true. I read Getting Things Done in 2005, and it became my gospel. I gave a talk on productivity at SXSW in 2009. I even designed and built a custom to-do app with my friend Taylor Hughes.

But after six or seven years of intense to-doing, I noticed a few problems with my approach. For one, the most important things never showed up on any to-do list. My best work happened when I spent hours in flow, intensely focused on a single task. These projects didn’t need to be sliced into neat to-dos. They didn’t need to be managed — I needed to clear my schedule and do them.

In contrast to these big things, I noticed that my to-do lists rewarded small tasks. Checking that “done” box feels good, and if you spend your days on bite-size activities you get to check that box a lot. Yet at the same time, the list was never complete. At best, I felt like a super-productive machine back in those days; at worst, I felt like… well, a machine.

I needed a new system. Then one day in 2014, it clicked: I would give up the small tasks and focus my planning on the big things — those important, meaningful projects that produced real value.

I grabbed a Post-It note and a pen, and wrote down the one big thing I planned to accomplish that day. I added a couple of smaller things to the bottom of the note, just in case I had time left over. I called my system “One Big Thing.”