Coaching for Leaders

785: Make Your Task List Work for You, with Liane Davey

Listen Later
Liane Davey: Thoughtload

For the past 25 years, Liane Davey has researched and advised teams on how to achieve high performance. She is the author of You First and The Good Fight and is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review. She is the author of the new book Thoughtload: Manage the Madness and Free Your Team to Do Great Work (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

We all love to hate our task lists. However, we can do a lot better with just a bit of strategy. In this conversation, Liane and I explore how to make our task list work for us instead of against us.

Key Points
  • Often it’s not really the workload that’s crushing – it’s more so the thinking about all the workload. That’s what thoughtload is.
  • The problem with a to-do list is that everything goes on it. Thus, to-do lists are terrible for managing your attention.
  • Instead of one task list, keep a limited amount of tasks on three priority lists.
  • Category 1 list: your most important outputs and outcomes.
  • Category 2 list: what you do to help others achieve their most significant outcomes.
  • Category 3 list: administrative stuff.

    • Four questions determine what gets on your lists:

    • Important (an activity that will add value to a key output or outcome)?
    • Urgent (something with growing negative consequences if you wait)?
    • Targeted (a task that no one can do as efficiently or effectively as you)?
    • Essential (core to creating the critical value, not just a nice-to-have)?
      • Resources Mentioned
      • Thoughtload: Manage the Madness and Free Your Team to Do Great Work by Liane Davey (Amazon, Bookshop)*
        • Interview Notes

        Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

        Related Episodes
        • The Scientific Secrets of Daily Scheduling, with Daniel Pink (episode 332)
        • Align Your Calendar to What Matters, with Nir Eyal (episode 431)
        • How to Take Back Your Evenings, with Guy Winch (episode 783)
          • Discover More

          Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

          ...more
          View all episodesView all episodes
          Download on the App Store
          Coaching for LeadersBy Dave Stachowiak
          • 4.8
          • 4.8
          • 4.8
          • 4.8
          • 4.8

          4.8

          1,393 ratings

          More shows like Coaching for Leaders

          View all
          The Look & Sound of Leadership by Essential Communications - Tom Henschel

          The Look & Sound of Leadership

          1,170 Listeners

          The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk by Ryan Hawk

          The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

          1,337 Listeners

          Teaching in Higher Ed by Bonni Stachowiak

          Teaching in Higher Ed

          373 Listeners

          HBR IdeaCast by Harvard Business Review

          HBR IdeaCast

          159 Listeners

          Negotiate Anything by Kwame Christian Esq., M.A.

          Negotiate Anything

          708 Listeners

          How to Be Awesome at Your Job by How to be Awesome at Your Job

          How to Be Awesome at Your Job

          1,030 Listeners

          Worklife with Molly Graham by TED

          Worklife with Molly Graham

          9,104 Listeners

          Speak Up: Develop Your Executive Presence & Leadership Communication Style by Laura Camacho

          Speak Up: Develop Your Executive Presence & Leadership Communication Style

          100 Listeners

          Maxwell Leadership Executive Podcast by John Maxwell

          Maxwell Leadership Executive Podcast

          382 Listeners

          Inside the Strategy Room by McKinsey & Company

          Inside the Strategy Room

          170 Listeners

          No Bullsh!t Leadership by Martin G Moore

          No Bullsh!t Leadership

          130 Listeners

          The Anxious Achiever by Morra Aarons-Mele

          The Anxious Achiever

          570 Listeners

          Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques by Matt Abrahams, Think Fast Talk Smart

          Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

          838 Listeners

          A Bit of Optimism by Simon Sinek

          A Bit of Optimism

          2,221 Listeners

          Coaching Real Leaders by Muriel Wilkins

          Coaching Real Leaders

          678 Listeners

          HBR On Leadership by Harvard Business Review

          HBR On Leadership

          173 Listeners