A work date is the day you’ll actually sit down and do a task, as opposed to the due date, which is just the day it’s owed to somebody. Putting work dates on your list instead of due dates is the single change that took the low-grade panic out of my week, and it’s the part of my system people tell me changed theirs.
Why do due dates make you miss deadlines?
Here’s what almost everybody does. I owe Leanne a report on Friday morning, so I write “Leanne report” on my list and put it on Friday. Friday shows up. I open the list and there it is, due today. Now I’m doing five hours of work in a morning I already had plans for, and I’m doing it badly because I’m rushing. Or I don’t finish, and Leanne gets it late.
The due date told me when the work was owed. It never told me when to do it. And because the task sat there for a week with a Friday label on it, I spent that whole week vaguely worried about it without making any progress. That’s the worst of both worlds, stress with no output.
How do you pick the right work date for a task?
Ask one question before anything goes on the list: how long does this actually take? Leanne’s report takes five or six hours. So it doesn’t go on Friday. It goes on Wednesday, because Wednesday is a day I can give it five or six hours. The item on my list reads “Leanne’s report, due Friday,” and it sits on Wednesday. The due date is still there as information. It’s just not driving the schedule anymore. When Wednesday comes, my list tells me to do the report, I do it, and it’s finished two days early with no drama.
The freedom is that I get to forget about Leanne’s report until Wednesday. I’m not carrying it. I’m not doing the math in my head about whether there’s enough runway. A to-do list isn’t where you remember everything you have to do. It’s where you forget everything that must be done and look only at what has to happen right now.
What are A, B, and C tasks?
Once your tasks have a work date, put a priority on top of them. Three levels, that’s it. A tasks have to get done today or else. Or else what? You lose a client, you lose money, you miss a window that doesn’t come back. Those are non-negotiable. B tasks you’d like to finish today, but if they slide a day or two nothing breaks. C tasks are fine to move. If they don’t happen today, you’ll do them another day, no big deal.
The rule that makes it work is simple. You don’t touch a B or a C until every A is done. When I sit down in the morning I don’t just see what I’m working on today, I see it in the order I need to work on it. It’s common for me to end a day with C tasks untouched, and that’s the system working, not failing.
Why does everything need to go on the list right away?
Because if it doesn’t go on the list, it doesn’t exist. I’m in a meeting, we’re talking, somebody says, “Hey, send me that email.” I stop, right there, and put “send Doris the email” on my list. Not later, right then.
That means no Post-it notes, no writing on my hand, and no starred email sitting in my inbox pretending to be a task. If my priorities are scattered across my email, my notebook, and my memory, then I don’t have a system. I have three unreliable systems arguing with each other. One place, and everything goes there. That’s what lets you look at one screen in the morning and know exactly what your day is, and it’s what lets you be present in a meeting without wearing a backpack full of stuff you’re scared to put down.
Questions owners ask
What if the work date arrives and I don’t get to it?
Move it, on purpose, to the next day you can give it real time. The move is a decision, not a failure. What you’re avoiding is the panic of discovering it on the due date.
Doesn’t this take longer to set up?
It takes an extra ten seconds per task to ask how long it’ll take. It saves hours of the vague dread that comes from not knowing.
What software should I use?
I’ve used Todoist for over a decade and I’m a huge advocate. Any tool with dates and priorities will do it. The system matters more than the app.
What if almost everything feels like an A task?
Then you haven’t asked the “or else what” question honestly. If nothing bad happens today when it slips, it’s a B.
Here’s the homework. Open your list and find one task sitting on its due date. Ask how many hours it takes, then move it to a day that has those hours in it. That’s the whole change, and you’ll feel it by Friday. It’s why I get Fridays off. Watch the full episode for the rest of the framework.