I love a good list📃. Whether I am seeing patients in the hospital or organizing things to do for Med School Moose, a list is a must for keeping me organized and on track🛤️. But lists aren't without their faults, especially when tasks start to pile up and that list continues to grow😓. As helpful as lists can be, staring at a collection of 10 or even 20 tasks could make anyone hesitant to get going🛑.
So why not start with just one?
I've been putting this idea to practice for over a year now. The idea itself has many different names. Ali Abdaal calls it his Daily Highlight while Tim Ferriss refers to it as his Mission-Critical. The basic premise is elevating one task to be the most important for that day and the one that needs to be completed.
I adopted the Mission Critical (MC) terminology because as a gamer, who doesn't like seeing 'Mission Completed'?✅
I'm a fan of this for two main reasons. For one, it forces me to prioritize🤔. If I have a lecture to present to the residents tomorrow, I probably shouldn't be putting my energy into the video that I plan to publish next week⚖️.
The second reason, and perhaps the more surprising, is that it actually takes pressure off of my overall list. Even if I continue adding tasks, setting the goal to do one above all others and then completing that can be very rewarding🏆. Zooming out, if you prioritize one task every day for a year and complete it, that's 365 tasks that you've completed.
That is definitely something to be proud of!👏
Here's an example of some recent MC's from my weekly planner.
One important thing I should mention is that just because you designate something as your most important task of the day, that doesn't mean it has to be the biggest task of the day.
There are many times when my MC is simple like going to the gym💪🏽(that was Monday in the picture) or doing laundry, just because that's the thing I needed to prioritize that day👕.
For me, looking at my planner each day and checking off the item that's at the very top of my list is always a win. I encourage you to try this habit out and see if it enhances your productivity and enjoyment while working!😁