Time Management #5: Get Things Done by Putting Them Off Till Tomorrow

In my last post, I described the problems created by a never-ending stream of incoming demands: on the one hand, the constant interruptions can destroy the concentration required for creative work; on the other, endless to-do lists create the ‘Sisyphus effect’ – a feeling of hopelessness and demotivation.

In his excellent book Do It Tomorrow, Mark Forster provides a provocative and elegant solution to these problems, which transformed my working life. He suggests we create a buffer between incoming demands and our response – by making ‘do it tomorrow’ our default response to all requests. Not ‘tomorrow’ as in ‘tomorrow never comes’, but ‘tomorrow’ as in ‘tomorrow’. Not today or the day after tomorrow, but tomorrow.

For example, here’s Mark’s solution to the never-ending stream of e-mail. In this system, on a typical day you only have to deal with one day’s worth of e-mails – i.e. those that arrived yesterday:

1. Supposing you received 40 e-mails yesterday (once you’ve weeded out all the spam) – the first thing you do is move these 40 e-mails into a folder marked ‘action’. These are the only e-mails you are going to deal with today.
2. Sit down and answer them all in one batch. Or at most, two or three concentrated bursts of effort.
3. Any e-mails that arrive in your inbox are collecting there for tomorrow – whatever you do, don’t get caught up in responding to them, or you will find yourself back in Sisyphus’ shoes, facing an endless task!

Of course there will be exceptions – sometimes you will receive an e-mail that has to be answered today – e.g. from your boss, demanding an urgent document by 5pm. But these should be the exceptions, rather than the general rule. Mark argues that most tasks are not nearly as urgent as we think they are – ask yourself ‘Will there be a disaster if I don’t answer this until tomorrow?’ and the answer is usually ‘no’.

‘Doing it tomorrow’ has several benefits:

• Dealing with e-mails in one batch is more efficient. You can get into ‘e-mail mode’ and zip through them in one go.
• It’s more motivating to deal with a finite number of e-mails than an ever-expanding inbox. In other words, it cuts out the Sisyphus effect and presents you with a manageable task instead of a never-ending one.
• Today’s e-mails can’t interrupt you – because you’re not going to respond to them today. I experience a feeling of relief each time I look at an e-mail containing a request and then ‘let go’ of it and return to the task in hand – confident that I will deal with it tomorrow.
• You answer e-mails in a better state of mind – so you’re much less likely to take on unnecessary commitments by agreeing to something in order to get rid of the e-mail. You are also likely to make a more thoughtful and helpful response.
• It doesn’t really matter how often you check your e-mail. Personally I can see the benefit of only checking e-mail once a day, but I’m not disciplined enough to resist, especially if I’m waiting for something important. This way, I can check my e-mail as often as I like without getting caught up in responding to it.
• You deal with the difficult e-mails. Most of us have a few ‘tricky’ e-mails that we put off answering for various reasons. But this system means you answer all the e-mails that came in yesterday – so you end up clearing out the difficult ones and getting them off your mind.
• You know when you’re finished for the day! Once you’ve answered yesterday’s e-mail, you’re finished with e-mail today – how good will that feel?

The same principles apply to other communication channels: post, phone calls, text messages, commitments you take on at meetings. They all go into the in-tray for tomorrow. So at the start of every day, you know exactly how much you have to do to keep abreast of your commitments – once you’ve dealt with a day’s worth of e-mail, post, phone messages and verbal requests, you’re free to get on with more interesting things. Like that design you’ve been itching to get back to.

N.B. This only applies to the reactive side of your work, i.e. requests coming in from others. Work initiated by you is a different matter – see my previous post on Ring-fencing your most creative time. Mark Forster suggests that you prioritise your own goals by devoting the first part of the day to a ‘current initiative’ of your own. But be wary of putting all your ideas for new initiatives into the in-tray for tomorrow, especially if you are the type of person who has a lot of ideas – I tried doing this when I first read Mark’s book (not carefully enough) and put my back out by trying to do an absurd amount of work each day!

Yes but…

• My in-tray already has hundreds of e-mails in it – so did mine. Mark Forster suggests that you take all these e-mails and put them in a folder labelled ‘Backlog’. Voila – an empty inbox! You can now implement the system by dealing with one day’s worth of e-mail at a time. You should also set aside dedicated time to work through the backlog – because you have limited the size of the backlog, it can only get smaller, so every e-mail you deal with brings you closer to a cleared backlog.
• People expect me to respond to them today. Then manage their expectations. Sometimes it’s a case of ‘training’ others to learn not to expect an instant response. On average, you’re actually more likely to get back to them quicker using this system, since you’re not overloading yourself by trying to answer everything as it comes in.
• My boss expects me to respond today! This is trickier. If you’re lucky, your boss will listen to reason – you can explain your new system and s/he will be impressed by your efficiency and agree to wait until tomorrow unless it’s really urgent. If not, then you can at least apply the system to everyone else you deal with.
• I’ve got too much coming in! Mark Forster is pretty blunt about this one – if you’ve got too many demands coming in on a regular basis then you need to scale down your commitments by saying ‘no’ and/or delegating more. It’s not easy, but it’s easier than carrying on with an impossible task.
• I’ve got too many other things to do! Beware of stuffing your diary so full of meetings and client appointments that you don’t have time to do the rest of your work. And you don’t need to keep up every single day. If I’m running a seminar all day I certainly won’t be processing all my e-mails and post when I get home! They can definitely wait until tomorrow.

Mark covers all these objections (and more) in his book, Do It Tomorrow – he also offers many more invaluable suggestions, so if you’re intrigued by the idea of ‘doing it tomorrow’, I highly recommend you get hold of a copy.

Do it tomorrow – or next week?

Mark Forster’s ‘do it tomorrow’ system works for me, but it may not be right for you. Your work might follow different rhythms. ‘Do it next week’ might work better for you. Another productivity guru, Tim Ferriss (author of The 4-Hour Work Week) says it’s possible to manage by only checking e-mail once a week!!!

The key principle is to create a ‘buffer’ between the information and demands that are coming at you, and your response. That way you can get out of reactive mode, avoid the Sisyphus effect and spend more time on the kind of work that really inspires you.

Questions

• What difference would it make to your work if you knew every morning how much work you had to get through that day?
• Apart from ‘do it tomorrow’ how else could you create ‘buffers’ between incoming demands and your response?