In the first Issue of The Efficiency Edge, I talked about the 3 Forces—the megatrends—that have radically reshaped the professional workday…

1. The Collapse of the Structured Workday
2. The AI-Productivity Paradox
3. The Workload Management Crisis

…together creating what I call The Great Productivity Gap.

It’s the ever-growing gap between knowing what needs to be done and actually doing it consistently every day.

And in case you missed it, here’s the illustration so you can see what creates the gap…

As I mentioned previously, ignoring these forces won’t make them disappear.

But understanding them will help you navigate the modern workday more effectively so you can adapt to what’s changing and advance when everyone else will still be spinning their wheels… or worse, falling way behind.

Now we arrive at the BIG question I promised to address…

What can we do to start closing the gap?

First, that requires recognizing what works and what doesn’t work—and why.

Those topics will be addressed in future issues of The Efficiency Edge, but for today…

I want to tell you about the ways to WIN amid the chaos created by these 3 Forces.

Productivity Myths and Bad Advice: What to Ignore

The Collapse of the Structured Workday has triggered a flurry of searches to make the workday easier, less stressful, and more productive…

What frustrates me most is the rise of sweeping, blanket statements of advice—often delivered with absolute certainty.

A guru tries something, it doesn’t work for them, and they immediately declare that it doesn’t work for anyone.

This is where things start to break down.

Productivity solutions are not one-size-fits-all. The details matter.

The type of work you do, your role, the business setting, the complexity of your work—all of it matters when considering something as big as a system or as small as a time management tip.

When those nuances are ignored, people are sent down a lot of long, frustrating paths of trial and error.

It becomes a constant guessing game. And it’s exhausting.

I see the same myths and bad advice repeated again and again, and every time I hear them, I cringe.

Not just because they’re inaccurate, but because they pull people farther away from solutions that could actually help them.

So, here’s my list of what to ignore. This is The Dirty Dozen…

I will address each of those topics in future issues of The Efficiency Edge, because they all deserve attention and I want to give you the reasons why they’re NOT the answers…

But today, let’s focus on the biggest myth. The one that ties in perfectly to Force #2: the AI-Productivity Paradox.

The Tech Industry Poses TECH as the Answer to All of Your Productivity Problems.

Got a workday productivity problem?

Big Tech—and much of the productivity industry—wants you to think tech is the answer.

Back in 2008/2009, when Apple launched an ad campaign to promote their newest phone and it’s growing app store, everyone started to jokingly say…

“There’s an app for that.”

And now there are SO many apps on the market, it’s overwhelming.

Now, with AI being the new kid on the block, that message has only intensified.

You’ve been conditioned to believe that tech is the answer to every productivity problem…

…for managing things to do, for planning and prioritizing, for dealing with email, for making decisions about how to spend time, for deciding what to do and when, and more.

But an app is not the answer. Neither is AI.

Now, using AI to take care of specific tasks is helpful! I do that, too.

But what I’m talking about today is how to manage the work behind the work.

This is about how to manage tasks, email, information, and time.

And I hold a particular stance on this matter… a rather unpopular view…

…that work should be managed by YOU.

Crazy, I know.

Not managed by tech. And NOT managed by AI.

YOU.

AI cannot replace human judgment.

Only you understand the nuances of your day, your responsibilities, your relationships, and the constant changes that can occur.

Think about what it would take to load all of that into AI continuously—and expect it to stay accurate in real time.

It’s not realistic. And it’s counter-productive.

Now, I know this view goes against the grain… and I don’t mind being the black sheep in the productivity consulting space.

But here’s the reality…

Business is only going to move faster. Technology is evolving constantly. Apps change quickly.

And keeping up is nearly impossible.

So while everyone is saying, “There’s an app for that…” or “Use AI…”

And people are trying to get technology or AI to think for them, make decisions for them, fix broken processes, or fill in for missing systems…

A proven method for managing your work will last beyond all of that.

Now, I know it’s uncommon to ZIG when everyone else ZAGS…

But this offers a major competitive advantage for YOU.

Because that which is needed and rare… becomes valuable.

And it can make YOU unstoppable.

Why Successful Professionals DON’T Take Short Cuts.

The Workload Management Crisis has driven professionals to go on a string of “Productivity Fad Diets” to find a way to make their workday easier, more streamlined, more productive, and less stressful.

And I don’t blame you. I’m sure you long to find the ONE thing that’s going to solve your productivity challenges, right?

And gurus prey on those who want to discover a “simple” solution, an “easy” fix, or a quick “hack.”

They know that people love hearing about a “magic bullet.”

But the truth is that there are no short cuts when you want TRUE productivity…

Real… lasting… effective… dependable… predictable productivity.

Same goes for real success—in life or in business. There are no short cuts.

Take the common “health” goal…

Outside of using the latest, quick-acting prescription drug—of which they’re just now discovering the myriad, damaging side effects… (See? No short cuts… )

We all know we should eat whole foods, eat fewer processed foods, get more exercise, stay away from sugar, and get enough quality sleep.

We do we do those things always? No.

And that’s because taking those steps can involve hard choices… hard work… hard decisions.

But those are the ones that pay off.

When it comes to your workday, you probably know a lot of things you could do and should do, but…

Do you do take those steps? No.

Again, because those steps can involve hard choices… hard work… hard decisions.

And when you go down the “trial and error” path, trying all of the tips, tools, and tactics… short cuts, apps, and hacks… but without success…

You come to the same conclusion my clients expressed when we first met…

“I’ve tried everything under the sun.”

Like being in a cycle of “Productivity Fad Diets.”

You try something new, invest time in it, encounter friction, and then abandon it for something else.

Consider this illustration of the “Six Characteristics of a Fad Diet” from the Maine Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program.

Each one of those characteristics is relatable in “productivity fad diets,” too…

…an app helps with one part of your work, but not others
…an app promises ONE thing, but doesn’t cover everything you need.
…you have the app, but no method or daily process for how to USE it.
…an app might be “light” for what you need with barely the features or functionality you need to accomplish your goal.
…without a guide or any support to answer your questions, sustainability is hard. It’s too easy to slide back into old, comfortable habits.
…and while “scientific” evidence isn’t necessary for productivity apps and tools, evidence of success of some kind is essential.

And all of these leave you with an implementation challenge and big gaps in your productivity, progress, and results.

Basically, the results are the same whether for health or productivity, if you’re jumping from one fad diet to another…

You don’t actually SOLVE the original problem.

Because you never stay with one approach long enough to succeed.

And the cycle repeats.

Do you really have time for that?

Meanwhile, you’ve cobbled together a discombobulated selection of tools and apps that were never meant to connect or work together, and that’s no picnic either…

So, here’s the deal…

If you buy the lies, you will forever be experimenting.

You’ll spin your wheels, trying to make each tip, tool, or tactic work.

And you’ll stay stuck. Right where you are.

As a result, you’ll continue to feel frustrated, discouraged, and overwhelmed.

You’ll be aggravated by all the wasted time.

You’ll become more de-motivated every single day.

And you’ll still be working at night or on the weekends to catch up… or at least try not to fall too far behind.

So I want to talk with you about something that will pull you out of the fire…

Something that has immediate practical application.

(Potentially for YOU.)

It’s something that’s worked for a couple of decades…

And it will  help you to design your workday processes so they work.

A Fundamentally Different Approach to Managing Your Work.

Take a look at this image.

All four of the major processes in your workday are represented as the “pillars” that support your efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity at work.

In turn, those processes—when carried out in optimal ways—will give you more time and freedom, as well as more progress during the workday, which will ultimately help you to enjoy more of LIFE.

And when I talk about having more TIME, I mean for doing more of what you want to do during the workday AND enjoying more time in the evenings and weekends which is outside of work—all with fewer worries, less stress, and more peace of mind.

You’ll enjoy more time for…

…advancing special projects or initiatives
…working with your team
…improving the quality of your work
…preparing for upcoming meetings and opportunities
…friends, spouses, and kids
…health, fitness, and sports
…hobbies, volunteering, or spirituality
…fun, adventures, and vacations
…more sleep
…and so much more.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be SO effective at work that you can leave the office behind at the end of the day?

Yep. That’s the point. Life is too short to spend too much time at work.

Enter Taskology® The Science of Getting Things Done

Taskology® is a system that includes all 4 Process Pillars in your workday.

It’s different than anything else out there on the market, because my view is this…

Any single tool, tactic, or app that only addresses ONE process or only speaks to ONE part of your work will FAIL you.

It totally misses the big picture and it will fall short of success.

The focus must be getting to the truth of what it really means to be efficient and productive at work.

Take for example, the first Process Pillar: Task Management.

Research shows that progress comes from task management, not project management.

To support this, Taskology® is task-centric. Even email management is task management in disguise.

When you take really small action steps, you’ll get the steady forward movement you’re looking for each day.

Conventional wisdom tells you to get to-dos out of your head and onto paper or into some kind of tool.

But the key to success is knowing where to put tasks and how to structure the system so you can easily manage them every day.

In Taskology, everytask gets pulled from its source (email, voicemail, texts, IMs, DMs, CRMs, meetings, hallway conversations, etc.) and put into one central, digital, complete task list.

This affords total clarity, the ability to prioritize accurately, and the power to plan and achieve faster and easier.

Here’s an example of what this kind of list would look like in Outlook, but it can be built in any software…

When the list is compressed, you get relief from having to look at EVERYTHING so you can simply focus on TODAY.

The bottom line?

When you take care of your tasks, your projects will take care of themselves.

Another example would be Process Pillar #3 for email management.

In Taskology, clients get to zero in the Inbox—and not just for the sake of getting to zero.

The benefits include knowing you’ve seen every email, you’ve made decisions on every email, and you’ve moved all of them to better locations of either reference or action, or they’re gone—archived or deleted.

Imagine this for a minute…

Consider a completely overloaded email Inbox and what that means to you.

(Whether you use Google, Apple, Outlook, or something else, the illustration reflects a similar stressful state.)

Now consider an Inbox that’s completely clear and empty…

You can see the difference, yes, but more importantly, you can feel the difference…

Between the chaos and the endless questioning if something was missed… And the calm… knowing that you took care of everything.

I’ll address all 4 Process Pillars in depth in future editions of The Efficiency Edge, but for now, it’s important to understand…

You don’t need more techto get you through the day.

You need a method for mastering the work behind the work.

And the magic is in the method.

Taskology® is a complete, A-Z, step-by-step method for increasing efficiency and productivity.

It’s not software. And it’s definitely not AI.

It is a method of thinking, decision making, and execution that can be used for the entirety of a career.

It’s NOT going to change overnight. It’s not going to change in a year or in 5 years.

Because it’s immune to the tech, tool, and AI churn cycle.

And it will allow you to streamline the management of your work by…

…eliminating all the tools currently used for keeping track of things to do
…centralizing what needs to be done in a “Mission Control” type of dashboard
…establishing the connection between all daily processes
…reducing or eliminating wasted time and duplicate efforts
…simplifying the processes used for managing tasks, email, and information
…and so much more.

Taskology® becomes the equalizer for each of The 3 Forces That Have Radically Reshaped the Professional Workday.

That means your most important work doesn’t keep getting pushed to tomorrow.

Or worse, pushed to tonight or to the weekend.

It means you can get work accomplished faster and easier, and with a lot less stress.

It means getting clarity and relief.

It means more focusand empowerment.

You’re Not Just Busy. You’re Losing Time.

Time is lost every day managing the work behind the work…

Searching…switching… tracking… jumping… double-checking… reacting… pulling out the fire hose…

Instead, a SYSTEM that encompasses and streamlines ALL processes in the workday means you can…

Regain time, use time effectively, make progress, finish projects, reach targets, master email, and reduce stress.

And I’m happy to take you on this journey.

The solution is unique and so am I. And that’s OK. I’m not trying to win any popularity contests…

I’m here to help you get results.

And I don’t mind ruffling a few feathers in the process…

At the end of the day, we both want the same things: to make progress, to feel accomplished, to enjoy fruits of our labor, and to enjoy more of LIFE.

And believe it or not, the REAL solution is even simpler than many would have you believe.

The industry is training you to chase technology. What actually works is mastering a methodology.

And that’s the truth.

When you believe the lies, things get complex and I know that’s NOT what you want.

So, you get to choose…

Keep believing the lies and stay stuck?

Or take a simpler, faster path to success so you can make a greater impact?

Because the closer you get to making the impact you really want to make…

The closer you’ll get to reaching the levels of success you want in business and in life…

And the faster you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

I invite you to hit Reply on this email and let me know…

What have you tried recently to solve the productivity challenges in your workday?

And are you ready for the simple solution?

Let me know. I read and respond to every email.

Until next time…

Remember to make the most of your minutes.
Protect time for what matters.
And make memories you’ll cherish.

Greater productivity doesn’t mean packing MORE work into your workday.

It’s about getting work done from start to finish faster and easier so you can gain more time to enjoy life.

Leslie

P.S. In the next issue of The Efficiency Edge, I’ll dive deep into my “critical combo”, but for today, hit Reply and let me know what you’re experimenting with in your workday. What’s working? What’s not working? I’d love to hear!

P.P.S If you’re TRULY ready for the simple solution, it all starts with tasks. If you want some help getting your tasks together (so you can stop taxing your brain), I’ve got a bite-sized video course for you so you can fast track the process.

And it’s only $149.

Check it out today.

If your workday feels chaotic, fragmented, and harder to manage than ever, you’re not imagining things.

The modern workday has fundamentally changed.

A paradigm shift has taken place and what used to be our old, familiar workday is no more.

Not long ago, work followed a predictable pattern. Each day had a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Most likely, you…

…left home and arrived at an office work to in a specific space every day.
…worked through the morning, had lunch, worked through the afternoon.
…wrapped up the day by turning off the light in your office, closing the door, and heading home.

Remember those days?

Your work lived at the office and you lived at home.

In the past 5 years, that model has disappeared. 

Now, the workday has become a continuous stream of messages, meetings, and notifications.

Our days are filled with rings, dings, and pings to notify us of tasks, updates, and email. 

Distractions constantly tug at our attention and interruptions break our focus.

We go in one direction and then mere moments later, we’re pulled in another.

Digital interruptions start earlier, end later, and rarely, if ever, stop. 

Most professionals describe feeling busy all day, but can’t put their finger on what they actually accomplished.

You may have thought in recent times, 

“My work is never done. I always feel behind.”
“It’s harder than ever to keep up. My work keeps showing up in different places.”
“Work feels heavier than it used to, even though I’ve got more tools than ever.”

These thoughts aren’t signs of incompetence, inability, or a lack of discipline.

They’re signals of a much larger shift happening in the workday, creating what I call…

The Great Productivity Gap. 

Let me explain what I mean by this.

The Great Productivity Gap is the ever-widening space between what we need to do and our ability to do it consistently every day.

We’re now entering a new era of work defined by three converging forces that have fundamentally reshaped how we work.

These forces didn’t arrive all at once. They developed gradually over many decades, as technology, communication, and expectations transformed how work was done.

What began as small shifts in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s eventually accelerated into three powerful megatrends.

Individually, each of these trends is significant. But together, they’re creating a work environment that is like none other than we’ve ever experienced in the past.

The first of these three forces is…

Force #1: The Collapse of the Structured Workday

For decades, the workday has had a recognizable structure. 

I remember working right out of college starting in 1990 when I and everyone else arrived at work at 8:00 am.

Everyone in the office was dressed up in suits and ties, and dresses and skirts. Casual day was a rare gift!

Most everyone had an office and if not, you had a dedicated cubicle in which to work.

There were clear boundaries between focused work and collaboration within meetings. 

When meetings were scheduled, you got up from your chair and left your workspace to go to a meeting room or board room, or someone else’s office. (Do you remember what that was like?)

When you had new work to do, it came generally from 5 places: 

1. The inbox on your desk, where someone could put new papers, files, or the day’s mail
2. The fax machine
3. A phone call
4. A meeting
5. An in-office conversation

Lunch times were spent in a lunch room or elsewhere and breaks were short, but expected.

You had a phone, but you could leave it at the office, because it was an office phone. Cell phones weren’t common and there was no texting. 

Even when work was demanding, there was still a general rhythm to the day and more importantly, an end. 

And when 4:30 or 5:00 o’clock arrived, you turned off the light, closed the door, and left the office behind.

Today, that structure is gone.

The modern workday is now amorphous. There is no solid shape to it. And it is no longer confined. 

This is evidenced by the identification of “The Infinite Workday” by Microsoft in their 2025 Work Trend Index Annual Report.

This new term describes the unstructured, unpredictable, and boundary-less workday we have today. 

To start with, the space dedicated to work isn’t specific anymore. Some people work at an established office location. Some people work at home. Many do both. 

The time dedicated to work has lost its structure, too. In their report, Microsoft shares evidence of this…

• 40% of employees get online at 6 am to review email in the Inbox and try to plan their day.
• By 10 pm, nearly 30% of workers are back in their Inboxes to catch up or keep up. 
• Nearly 20% of workers are in their Inboxes before noon on Saturdays and Sundays, too.

The workday no longer has guard rails. It’s wide-open and never-ending.

The “portable” office enables this trend since we can carry laptops and work papers to and from home.

But what makes the workday even more inescapable is the cell phone, which is always with us, by our side.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/one-chart-shows-how-mobile-has-crushed-pcs-2016-04-20

Add to this the multitude of collaboration tools and messaging platforms contained by our laptops and cell phones and our time and focus are perforated by notifications, messages, and requests. 

This new, amorphous workday is not just longer and more fragmented. It’s more easily filled up with responsibilities and commitments.

Virtual meetings fill up more of the white space on our calendars, because they’re easy to attend. 

Work no longer arrives in small bits from phone calls, mail, faxes, or meetings. It rolls in continuously because of technology.

So, instead of moving linearly and proactively through a clear sequence of tasks, most professionals now spend their day reacting. 

Jumping from email to IMs to phone calls to a to-do list to a text to a document to a live conversation, attempting to keep up with a flow that never slows down.

The result is a workday that feels less like a place where work gets done and more like a raging river that carries us from morning to evening, and at the end of the day. And we STILL have work left to do. 

With a collapse of the structured workday, balance is gone and the plan for getting things done is unstable. 

It’s much harder to focus, protect time, and make meaningful progress. At most times, it’s even a challenge to know where to start.

Enter the next force—AI—which is now omnipresent and has promised to make us more efficient and productive.

But is it living up to that promise?

Force #2: The AI-Productivity Paradox

AI is now ubiquitous. Artificial Intelligence is in the headlines everywhere we turn.

It has promised to make our work easier and eliminate repetitive tasks to free up time for higher-value work.

As this illustration from Menlo Ventures shows, every generation has adopted AI at some level.

In theory, this should make us all more productive.

In practice, something very different is happening.

According to an ongoing study by researchers Aruna Ranganathan and Xingqi Maggie Ye, and published in Harvard Business Review, AI tools aren’t reducing the work, but instead are intensifying it. 

As summarized in the HBR article:

“In the study, employees worked at a faster pace, took on a broader scope of tasks, and extended work into more hours of the day, often without being asked to do so. That may sound like a win, but it’s not quite so simple. These changes can be unsustainable, leading to workload creep, cognitive fatigue, burnout, and weakened decision-making. The productivity surge enjoyed at the beginning can give way to lower quality work, turnover, and other problems.”

In other words, AI has promised to change the way we work. But that promise comes at a huge cost.

The advent of AI means we have new tools to learn and that learning costs time. 

This is a time demand on TOP of what was already a super-packed, rushed workday where you’re feeling stretched, stressed, and sensitive to the passing of time.

Add to this the fact that AI is changing SO fast that every WEEK there is a new development.

Once you learn a new AI tool, it could be obsolete within MONTHS. 

This means that there’s ALWAYS something new to learn.

It’s becoming a full-time job just to learn the AI tools that are supposed to make us more productive.

In many cases, MORE time is spent learning how to use the AI tools than actually doing the work that needs to be done.

In addition, while AI is accelerating the ability to accomplish certain tasks, it can also cause more work on the back-end, which can cost more time to review and fix it.

Using AI is also dramatically increasing the volume of work that must be addressed.  

Content is generated faster. Communication happens more frequently. Expectations rise for keeping up.

The result? AI isn’t reducing the work.

It’s amplifying the volume, scope, and pace of work, which can easily become unsustainable on an ongoing basis. 

This makes deadlines harder to meet, promises harder to keep, and expectations harder to reach. 

The AI that is supposed to increase efficiency and productivity is slowing down progress because it’s increasing the complexity, communication, and cognitive load around the work that needs to be done.

This creates what many organizations are beginning to recognize and experience as the AI-Productivity Paradox.

Does any of that sound familiar?

Whether leaders and workers are skeptical about AI or hopeful about it, everyone agrees at this moment that it’s unstable, unpredictable, yet demanding.

The continuous learning curve required to keep up is impossible to keep up with, putting the simultaneous goals of keeping up with new AI developments AND hitting your weekly, monthly, and quarterly targets at odds with one another, which has created the 3rd Force…

Force #3: The Workload Management Crisis

The third force stems from years of an ongoing imbalance between the amount of work to be done and time in which to do it. 

This imbalance has slowly grown into a crisis in much the same way a frog panics in a bucket of slowly, but increasingly boiling water.

This imbalance causes more stress and burnout every year, making work even harder to accomplish. 

Here’s a quick overview of the progression in quick highlights, starting with this chart showing how society has evolved with technology as measured by output per hour since 1900… 

1974: “Burnout” was a term identified in 1974 by Psychologist Herbert Freudenberger as a workday phenomenon. 

1990s: Fast-forward to the 1990s on into the 2000s and technology increased at rapid speeds and, along with corporate restructuring, downsizing and increasing workloads, stress and burnout started to rise.

2015: Deloitte had identified the “overwhelmed employee” as an emerging trend in their “2014 Global Human Capital Trends” report.

2020: The Pandemic of 2020-2021 heightened workplace stress as the workplace moved to homes around the world, blurring the lines between work and home commitments, blending the technology used for both, and the time dedicated to each.

2025: Research showed that 66% – 79% of U.S. employees experienced burnout, making it a critical metric for organizational health and retention. 

Thus our arrival to a new level: The Workload Management Crisis. 

So, here’s the deal…

The speed and complexity of work today make it incredibly hard to keep up with the ever-expanding flow of tasks, information, requests, messages, and decisions that need to be addressed.

Professionals are burning out, because the way they used to work in the past isn’t working anymore.

They improvise and create routines that sustain them for a while—maybe even a long while—but today, those methods are falling short in helping them reach the targets they want to reach and that they’re expected to reach.

Professionals rely on multiple to-do lists, sticky notes, email flags, their memory, and a combination of tools and tech that were never designed to work together.

As an example, there are HUNDREDS of task and project management apps on the market today. And they’re only growing in number. The choices are dizzying.

This ReviewStartup.com illustration only shows a fraction of them…

As workloads increase and become more fragmented, these shaky methods begin to break down.

Important tasks slip through the cracks. Priorities compete for attention. People spend more time trying to track down where work is coming from, and trying to manage it and prioritize it, than actually getting the work done. 

Many don’t realize the difference between managing the work and actually getting the work accomplished.

Thus, we have the growing burden of “the work behind the work.”

This kind of work includes communicating about work, searching for information to do the work, switching between apps, managing shifting priorities, and following up on the status of work. 

It’s what you do throughout the day, but isn’t the actual skilled work you were hired to do 

Let me explain…

There are actually two missions in your workday. Both need time. Although, not equal amounts of time.

Time must be spent DOING your work and time must be spent managing HOW you work, but you want to spend as little time as possible on HOW you’re working.

There should actually be a disproportionate amount of time spent DOING your work as compared to the time spent managing it. 

DOING work is about using your expertise. It’s about doing what you do best… what you LOVE to do—unfettered, unencumbered, and uninterrupted. You accomplish REAL work when your time is spent doing the work you love.

HOW you work is like the operating system that should be running quietly and smoothly in the background of your day, but for many professionals, it’s not working that way. And time is lost because of it. Time you could be using doing meaningful work. 

The time you dedicate to “the work behind the work” is further complicated by the many tools and apps that are used, which can steal more time from actually getting work done and slow you down.

How you work is about…

…how you protect time to work on your most important tasks and projects
…how you prioritize tasks
…how you plan action steps
…how you find information
…how you manage email
…how you make decisions
…and more.

If HOW you work feels like you’re slogging through molasses, then how you’re working isn’t working. 

The processes used to manage work is STEALING time from the part of the day when work could actually be accomplished.

The imbalance caused by spending too much time on HOW work is managed versus getting the work done is creating a workplace in which we now have “quiet quitting,” “quiet cracking,” “culture rot,” “boreout,” “task masking,” “gray work,” “ghostworking,” and “productivity theater.”

In other words, a Workload Management Crisis.

When Three Major Forces Converge

Each of these trends—The Collapse of the Structured Workday, The AI-Productivity Paradox, and The Workload Management Crisis—would be challenging on its own.

Together, they create a perfect storm.

It’s one that professionals are increasingly having a hard time weathering. 

• They start the day with good intentions, but quickly find themselves pulled into reactive work. 
• They end the day deflated from not accomplishing what they set out to do.
• By the next morning, they’re already stressed out and de-motivated as they start the day. 

Professionals are working longer hours, but still feel behind. 

They juggle dozens of responsibilities while carrying a constant low-level anxiety that something important might be missed.

To keep up, they’re looking for new methods as if they were life boats, life jackets, and life rafts. 

Many are clinging to whatever they can find to keep them afloat.

Most don’t find what they’re looking for and continue to tread water until they do. 

And it’s exhausting, isn’t it?

Most frustrating of all, many people assume the problem is personal—that they need better discipline, stronger focus, or more willpower—when in reality, the problem is structural. 

And that’s not your fault.

Why This Matters Now and What It Means for You

The modern workday isn’t just evolving. It’s accelerating.

Organizations are moving faster. Technology is advancing rapidly. Expectations for responsiveness, collaboration, and output continue to grow.

Ignoring these forces won’t make them disappear.

Understanding them, however, is the first step toward navigating this new kind of workday more effectively.

Because when three forces like these converge, they don’t just reshape the way we work.

They reshape our lives as well.

Closing The Great Productivity Gap requires a fundamentally different approach to managing work.

And the professionals and organizations that recognize this shift now will be the ones best positioned to adapt.

So the big question is…

What do we do about all of this?

Well, that’s the topic of the next Efficiency Edge. 

You’ll receive Issue #2 of The Efficiency Edge next month, but you’ll hear from me again before then. We’re cooking up some new product and program offerings so you can take control of your workday in do-able, bite-sized steps. More on all of that coming soon…

In the meantime, I would absolutely love to hear from you. 

Which of these 3 forces is showing up for you the most right now?

I read and respond to every email. And hearing your thoughts will help me learn more about the topics I can address for you in the future.

That’s all for now. 

Until next time…

Remember to make the most of your minutes.
Protect time for what matters.
And make memories you’ll cherish.

Greater productivity doesn’t mean packing MORE work into your workday.

It’s about getting work done from start to finish faster and easier so you can gain more time to enjoy life.

Leslie

P.S. Again, if the topic from today landed for you, send me an email and let me know which of those 3 forces is the one you’re feeling the most!

Book Your Call: https://productiveday.com/talk/

Get Started Today: https://productiveday.com/taskology/

Have you ever noticed that the more you say yes, the harder it becomes to actually deliver?

Commitments stack up. Expectations rise. And completion doesn’t always keep pace.

What starts as good intentions can quietly turn into over-extension—where you’re working harder, staying later, and you STILL feel like you’re falling behind.

This isn’t a motivation problem. And it’s not a capability issue either.

It’s a workload management problem.

And unless something changes, it’s going to keep costing you.

The cost shows up in missed deadlines, broken promises, and growing pressure to do more with less.

Even your reputation.

The truth is, if you struggle to get through your day and reach targets, it’s not because you lack the discipline or the drive.

It’s about HOW you’re working.

The way you’re working no longer matches the work you’re being asked to do.

The pace is faster. The volume is higher. The margin for error is smaller.

And yet, you and countless other professionals are still relying on routines and habits that may have worked years ago, but aren’t holding up to today’s demands.

If you’re serious about getting RESULTS for the time and effort you put in every day (and I know you are!), you know how essential it is to BE and STAY productive.

Not to run yourself into the ground doing it, no! But to accomplish your work better, faster, more easily. And to have more personal time afterward, too.

You can do that, believe it or not. It’s actually a lot simpler than you imagine.

The reason for simplicity is this…

The less complicated your workday, the more time you get to spend doing what you do best. What you WANT to do. What you’re MEANT to do.

The MORE complicated your workday is, the LESS time you get for anything worthwhile.

If you want to keep producing, delivering, and being counted on—without burning out—something has to change in how you manage your work and run your workday.

What I want you to be able to do is create the MOST productive workday routines possible so you can not only do your best, but serve others, expand your impact, and lead your best life.

Just don’t expect to run your workday the SAME way from year to year.

Your work is always changing, so your workday routines need to change to support you, too.

Make these 3 fundamental mindset shifts to work differently (and better!) and STOP doing what DOESN’T work.

1 / DO focus on what you need now. DON’T pretend that your workday is the same as ever.

Over the years, so many clients have said, “I used to be able to keep up, but now I can’t.” Or “My old way of doing things used to work, but now it doesn’t.”

Sound familiar? If so, it’s because the workday you had 5 or 10 years ago isn’t the same as the one you have today.

If you struggle to keep up and get everything done on time, and wish you had more personal time left over, your workday routines of old don’t match the workday you have now.

You may have LESS time now in your current position, but MORE tasks and MORE email than ever. You may not have the same kind of team or co-workers as before. You might not even be in the same company!

Whatever you do, don’t try to continue working the same way as you did five or ten years ago.

Address your needs TODAY and ask, what’s working? And what’s not?

2 / DO focus on documenting tasks. DON’T rely on your memory.

Do you ever think, “I used to be REALLY good at remembering things, but now it’s getting harder?” If so, you probably can’t remember things like you used to, because there’s too much happening too fast every day.

If you really want to achieve great things consistently, you’re GOT to document your tasks—ALL of them—no matter what you’re trying to do or when.

Forget about short-term vs long-term tasks. Everything you need to do is a task. It’s just a matter of WHEN you plan to take action. Get ‘em on the list.

Projects are different than tasks. Projects are BIG. Tasks are the small steps that help you finish a project.

For ALL projects on your plate right now, what’s the first step to get one started? What’s the next step on a project you already have in motion? Get ‘em on the list.

Trying to remember a brilliant idea you had recently? Get it on the list with a date you want to get it into motion—or at least think about it again.

Want to keep track of that task you delegated to someone? Get it on the list with an action date for following up the day after it was due to you.

Want to consider going to that conference or attending that event? Get it on the list with a date when you want to consider the details, including the RSVP deadline and associated early-bird discounts.

When you get every task on the list, it’s the action dates that allow you to separate your tasks by day.

That means grouping them by day, so you don’t have to look at an endless list of everything, which can be overwhelming.

Don’t try to keep tasks in your head.

Get tasks into a place where you can easily and accurately plan them according to dates of action. Then prioritize them and then get them done.

3 / DO focus on delivering what you promised. DON’T wing it and hope for the best.

If you’ve ever regretted telling someone that you couldn’t reach a deadline or keep a promise on a delivery date, you know how maddening and disappointing it feels.

This is what happens when you don’t have a tight grip on all your tasks and responsibilities. You’re flying blind.

Then, when you’re asked to do something NEW, you don’t actually know for sure how much time you can spare or what you have room for.

But there you go, still promising a completion date, even though you’re a bit fuzzy on everything else you’re currently responsible for.

If you want to stay on top of things, pull tasks AWAY from their sources (email inbox, voice mail, legal pads, social media, papers and files on the desk, meeting notes, etc…)

Get them all into ONE place where you can gain 100% awareness of every task you’ve committed to.

Make sure it’s…

Central: this is the power of ONE.
Digital: let go of paper and planners. They’re seriously holding you back.
Complete: include everything. Leave out nothing. Everything must have a target date of action.

Stop trying to manage tasks while they’re still sitting at their sources. And don’t try to rely on reminders to help you stay on track. Both are letting you down and creating risks that are hard to recover from when things go wrong.

Seriously. Start a central, digital task list. Pick your favorite digital platform. Then add EVERY task you need to do to, even if you’re not going to take action today, this week , or even this month. (See #2 above!)

RECAP: These are the 3 essential steps to take when you want a more effective workday.

A workday that’s more efficient, effective, and productive.

A workday where you can count on getting things done on time and others can count on YOU.

These 3 steps are where you start.

Remember that creating workday routines that SUPPORT you and your success means simplifying how you manage your day.

When you simplify your workday processes and routines, it affords time for you to be, do, and have more.

And I know that if you’ve read this far, you have the drive to do MORE of what you do best:

To serve others, do your best, do what you’re meant to do, expand your impact, and lead your best life.

You can do it! I know you can.

To help you succeed, my mini-video series for The Fast-Action Formula is the BEST place to start.

It’s the crash course for Taskology® Task Management. And it’s only $149.

Get the details and start transforming your workday today.

Is your whole day typically taken over by “fires” and “squeaky wheels?” or do you get quiet, closed-door time to work on your most important tasks and projects?

Do you go home feeling happy and accomplished or frustrated and behind?

These are the two sides of the rope in this Tug-of-War: reactive vs. proactive. And Reactivity is NOT the activity you want.

Which side is winning in your workday?

I know you’re trying to keep up with email that’s pouring in, phones that don’t stop ringing (or dinging), and visitors who are asking questions.

You want to be helpful and responsive, but you might be stuck in a cycle of reactivity—and fear.

Fear that you’re not going to be able to deliver.
Fear that you’re not going to appear available or as a team player.
Fear that if you DON’T jump at every little thing that pops up, you’ll lose even MORE control and things will pile up even MORE.

Saying ‘yes’ and being there for others are nice gestures, but when you sacrifice too much of your time to do these, you create too much reactivity.

The definition of “react” is “to act in a reverse direction or manner, especially to return to a prior condition.”

At work, when you’re reactive, it means you’re not moving forward or making noticeable, tangible progress on your projects and daily priorities, and instead you’re stuck spinning your wheels.

To improve your current circumstances, choose to make a change.

Choose a new direction = = > proactivity over reactivity
Choose how you use your time = = > effectively vs. ineffectively
Choose what to work on = = > what’s important vs. what’s easy

But HOW?

If you want to make those improvements, but you’re not sure HOW, first reflect on what you’re doing today. Increase awareness about HOW you’re working, which is based on long-standing habits that have driven you for years and the choices and decisions you make every day.

Stop for a minute to consider…

What are your current results. Are you happy with them?

What are your current processes? What’s working? What’s NOT working? And why?

What are you willing to say or do to protect your time and focus, and stand up for what you want or need?

Are you afraid to set boundaries and negotiate your time? Answer the following questions to find out.

1⃣ Are you afraid you won’t appear as “available” or as “a team player?”

Feeling guilty about shutting your door? Or disappearing for any length of time to focus on your work, uninterrupted?

If you’re available 100% of the time, your all-day, open-door policy is an invitation for constant interruptions, which will wreck your productivity.

Please shut your door for short stretches of time throughout each day. Ideally, this is for 1-1 ½ hours in the early part of the morning and also in the early afternoon.

Then set expectations. Clearly communicate to co-workers what a closed door means and how long your door will typically be closed so you don’t leave people guessing or worrying that they’ll never get to speak with you.

Use a Post-it Note, a mini traffic light, or a spinnable Do Not Disturb sign on your door or doorframe to communicate your availability. Below is an example of one you can get from Amazon.

The Key to Success with this Strategy: Ditching the head trash that tells you that you can’t do this.

2⃣ Are you afraid you won’t seem “responsive” to email?

Without an easy email process to follow, you’re likely to fall into two unproductive camps.

One is when you start your day in the Inbox and never seem to get back out. Or two, you manage to get out of the Inbox to work on something else, but when you see a pop-up notification or get a ding, you POUNCE on it.

Both of these moves may seem “responsive,” because you’re constantly connected to email, but they’re actually more “reactive” and they’re costing you time that could be better spent keeping your focus and getting your most important tasks accomplished.

Instead, use short blocks of time to alternate your focus throughout the day between tasks and email.

This is what clients do when they learn Taskology. When they’re focused on their Task List, they’re getting things done. When they switch over to their email process, they’re reviewing a batch of email that recently rolled in and they’ll go one by one with a process that gets them back to zero, because they’ve already reached it.

If you’re not constantly swimming around in your Inbox, it’s doesn’t mean you’re “unresponsive.” If you don’t answer emails for 30-60 minutes or more—like when you’re in a meeting—it just means your time is committed elsewhere and you’re using it wisely.

The Key to Success with this Strategy: Having a task list filled with true tasks that are easy and achievable, including those from email.

3⃣ Are you afraid to make someone wait?

When you get interrupted, you might automatically set your work aside to avoid making someone else wait.

Instead, if you’re working on something REALLY important, ask if you can get back to the other person in 30 or 60 minutes, or later in the day. Negotiate your time. Stand firm and ASK.

An example would sound something like this:

“Thanks for stopping by. I’d love to discuss that with you. But I’m right in the middle of finishing up something really important (or I’m on a deadline.) Can I stop by your office in about 30 minutes when I’m finished?”

Others are likely to accommodate and you’ll feel GOOD about getting something accomplished, while still honoring their request. But you won’t know unless you ASK.

The Key to Success with this Strategy: Knowing the IMPORTANCE of what you’re working on NOW and NEXT and comparing that to the interruption.

4⃣ Are you afraid to delegate?

Where is your time best spent? Where is your time being wasted?

If you have one or more team members to delegate to, look for opportunities to delegate. Teach others how to handle certain tasks so your time is freed up to do the things ONLY YOU can do.

Ensure your team members get enough practice and time for Q & A. Confirm that they know how to do a task and are able to work autonomously. Let them know what they’re authorized to do without you. This is your chance to free up some time to reach your potential while empowering others to reach their potential, too.

The Key to Success with this Strategy: Understanding that investing time in teaching now is worth the results you’ll gain in the long run.

5⃣ Are you afraid you’ll FORGET a new task if you don’t do it RIGHT NOW?

If you tackle new tasks as they show up, you’re treating ALL tasks like they have the same level of priority, but they don’t.

What you need is a task management approach that allows you to document, prioritize, and plan action for ALL of your tasks in one central, digital task system.

This means…

…planning action for tasks on different days into the future. This makes you pick and choose what you’ll do today or not—otherwise known as prioritizing.

…getting a bird’s eye view of your responsibilities no matter where the tasks came from or how far out in the future you’ll take action.

…having a strong plan and a place to start each day without missing, losing or forgetting anything.

…being responsive on new tasks without losing track of everything else you had planned to do today, next week or next month

Does your current task management approach allow you to do all of this?

The Key to Success with this Strategy: Choosing ONE digital platform where you can start building your list.

(And if you want help on this strategy, be sure to get the Fast-Action Formula for Tasks. It’s a mini-crash course in Taskology® Task Management for only $149.)

What adjustments can you make today (and head trash you can toss) so you protect more time and use it to make more powerful progress every day?

Get comfortable with setting boundaries and negotiating your time.

You’re in charge. Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you need. You’ve got this.

It was defined in Psychological Science as “hurrying to complete a task as soon as possible just to get it off your plate.”

Sound familiar?

If you’ve ever jumped on a task the moment it appeared—just to avoid adding it to your already-long to-do list—you’ve lived it. And It feels like a win… but it’s not.

While it may offer short-term satisfaction, pre-crastination drains valuable time and leads you to spend time on lower-priority tasks simply because they’re right in front of you—but not because they’re the best use of your time.

This reactionary approach will leave you feeling:

• Scattered from switching between unrelated tasks
• Frustrated by slower progress on bigger goals
• Exhausted by the pressure to “just get it done”
• Overwhelmed from managing too much at once without direction
• Disempowered: your day is running you instead of the other way around

When you work on tasks as they appear, you’re not in the driver’s seat of your workday. You’re reacting instead of effectively prioritizing or planning.

The result? Lower productivity, stalled progress, and rising stress.

Let’s flip that script—first by understanding what’s happening behind the scenes and then addressing how to fix it.

THE HIDDEN POWERS YOU LOSE WHEN YOU PRE-CRASTINATE
When you pre-crastinate, you give up power in 3 ways that support the most effective management of your work.

THE POWER OF CLARITY
If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you’ve heard me say this over and over: there are more than 10 different sources of tasks your workday, including email, phone calls, texts, IMs, DMs, CRMs, meetings, conversations, social media, teams chats, and more.

And those are just the SOURCES. Now let’s talk about the TOOLS.

Tools are the things you grab to try to keep up with the tasks from all of those aforementioned sources, including legal pads, steno pads, notebooks, planners, post-it notes—any kind of paper. Then you might use a whiteboard, an excel spreadsheet, a word document, your calendar, or a task app on your phone for tracking tasks.

What this forces you to do is try to keep your most important tasks top of mind and then you try to prioritize them—in your head! Which is an indicator of trouble down the road.

Without total clarity of tasks, you lose visibility of what you’re responsible for. Awareness drops. Certainty drops. And this means you’re apt to…

• Miss, forget, or duplicate tasks
• Miss deadlines and due dates
• Miss out on conversations, team decisions, and meetings
• Miss or lose information
• Miss out on important opportunities
• And so much more.

Without full visibility of tasks, awareness and certainty drop. You’ll lack confidence that you’re using your time wisely and this will ultimately impede PROGRESS and RESULTS for both you and your company.

THE POWER TO MAKE SMART DECISIONS
Pre-crastination skips over the decision-making process entirely. It’s too easy to just assume that you have to do everything.

Instead of asking…

• Is this task important?
• Is it mine to do?
• Is now the right time?
• Is this something I can delegate?

…you just do it.

You take action before you’ve even had a chance to think about whether it’s even WORTH doing. And that’s not decisiveness. It’s blind, but consistent action. And it’s a recipe for burnout, not progress.

THE POWER TO PRIORITIZE
You might start working on a task only to remember something “more important.” Or someone pops in with a request they say is “urgent.” So you jump ship and chase the next thing.

When everything feels urgent, nothing gets prioritized. You chase the loudest task, not the most important one. Without a clear priority, you can’t confidently decide where to spend your time—and that creates doubt and delay.

Take Your Power Back and Stay in the Driver’s Seat of Your Workday

To stop the cycle of pre-crastination and reclaim control, here’s what to do:

Create a Central, Digital, and Complete Task List
The key word there is “COMPLETE.” I’m not kidding. You MUST centralize tasks and responsibilities—ALL of them. Pull tasks AWAY from their sources. Consolidate tasks from all the tools you use and get them all into ONE favorite digital tool. Build a COMPLETE inventory—a SYSTEM, not just a long—but partial—list on a legal pad.

Assign DO Dates (Not Due Dates)
Keep track of due dates and deadlines, of course, but DRIVE your productivity and progress with target dates of action on each and EVERY task. (Yes, EVERY!) This isn’t meant to lock you in. it’s just a place to start so you can…

Prioritize with Precision
Centralize tasks into ONE system and choose target action dates for every task. This means you’re automatically prioritizing and grouping tasks by day, where the highest priority will easily float to the top of each day. Full awareness of tasks means you can make smart decisions about how to spend your time and you’ll be more confident that your energy is focused where it matters most.

Keep the number of tasks planned per day LOW ( it’s lower than you think!)
Everyone thinks they can do more in a day than what’s really possible. Prevent “task overload” on any given day by planning fewer tasks per day. The white space you see on your calendar isn’t ALL for tasks. Be sure to take into account the time for scheduled meetings, email, interruptions, distractions, and the unexpected. A firm grasp on tasks that are centralized also helps to avoid over-promising and under-delivering.

The Result? Progress with Confidence

When you start managing tasks intentionally without pre-crastination…

• You feel calmer, because you know nothing’s been missed or forgotten.
• You feel confident, because you’re working on the right things.
• You feel energized, because your time has purpose and your progress is real.

Don’t let the pressure to “get it done now” steal your time, energy, and power to prioritize. Pre-crastination might FEEL productive, but it’s not. It’s just a very distracted and random use of your precious time.

Instead, centralize your tasks. Then prioritize with precision, plan with purpose, and make decisions with total clarity. That way, you’ll always work with intention, not reaction.

As you avoid the urge to pre-crastinate (as well as to procrastinate), aim for the productive middle ground—where YOU are in charge of your day, your time, your tasks, and ultimately, your progress, achievement, and peace of mind.

To help you go in a new direction, I’ve assembled a list what to LET GO OF in 2025 with regard to your workday productivity.

I’ve put together this list after working with tons of clients for more than 20 years and hearing what they had done to try to stay on top of things.

They were men and women with all kinds of positions and roles in their companies.

They’re in corporate mostly—but many are also business owners—from more than 30 different industries.

Some were using tools and strategies that would NEVER work.

Some were on the right track, but didn’t know how to truly make things work right.

I know what people are doing behind the scenes in their workday and I am telling you to “let it go” with some of this stuff.

Are you ready to start simplifying your workday?

I’ve got you covered on this one.

Let’s do this.

1 – Give up the piecemeal “strategy” you’ve been using. It’s not a real strategy.

You see some guru say you need to do A and you dive in.

Then, another guru says you need to do B, so you add that on.

Then, yet another guru says A and B are dead, so you abandon them for C… which this guru recommended.

You try a new tool or app for a couple of weeks, but you get stuck.

You don’t think it’s working. It’s taking too long. You have questions.

You get frustrated. And then you give up…

…and you go back to your old, comfortable habits from before.

But soon after, you see another guru make a NEW recommendation. So you try it.

And the process starts all over again as you try to fix the problem.

It’s time to break up with this “strategy” that ISN’T a strategy.

Your workday strategy should include, in no particular order:

Your ONE task management system that pulls all tasks from all sources so you have 100% clarity (yes, I said ONE. This is KEY!)

Your Task-Time Connection that aligns what you want to do and WHEN (yes, this is one major missing piece in your daily task plan—but it’s ESSENTIAL)

Your time protection plan that gives you the time you need to stay on top of tasks and email (your to-do list isn’t the only thing you need time for. Email is a time HOG. Are you allowing time during the day to keep up with it?)

Your information management plan: how quickly can you store/save something and trust you’ll find it again? If you can’t find info quickly to finish a task or reply to an email, you’ve just lost.

Your plan for diverting or eliminating interruptions and distractions. What’s breaking your focus these days?

Your email process (from the minute an email hits your Inbox, you’ve got to know what to DO with it—and FAST… because it can’t stay there and be managed effectively.)

Get a REAL strategy that’s comprehensive and takes care of it ALL!

​

2 – Expecting an app to be the answer

I’m about to get all up in your business a little bit, but I have seen WAY too much of this.

You want to find an app that will handle email.

You want to find an app that will streamline your tasks.

You want an app to literally handle things FOR you.

But guess what?

It’s not happening.

You’ll waste more time trying to find an app… or a tool… or a hack… to fix what’s NOT working and even MORE time trying to figure out what to DO with it.

You’ve probably turned “app hunting” into a hobby (and lost time) and you’re spending an awful lot of effort to try to make it work (more lost time.)

All while NOT keeping track of tasks or keeping up with emails while you were trying to make the “thing” work. (even more lost time trying to clean up what DIDN’T get done.)

Here’s the deal…

An app is not the answer to your workday challenges. It’s how you USE it that matters.

The MAGIC is in the METHOD.

An app can seem like an easy answer.

You want technology to step up. You try one after another, because, after all, those demos make things look so COOL, right? And EASY!

They talk a big game—especially for task management. But they don’t even know how to create a real task. (Their demos say “You can type your task HERE” and I’m like, dude… that’s a project.)

Apps can end up costing you SO… MUCH… TIME. Plus effort and energy and stress.

If you don’t know how to use it or apply it to YOUR work, you’re going to spin your wheels.

All the while, you’re missing tasks, forgetting follow ups, and chasing emails that scroll off the screen.

And that means you’re still being reactive in your workday, missing opportunities, and losing traction.

The WORST part? It’s costing you in PERSONAL time now, too.

Let me save you that time, effort, and energy… and help you get your LIFE back.

Unless you have LOADS of time on your hands, it’s time to let go of the app hunt.

 The truth is that a great workday strategy requires a few special things:

Someone who TRULY gets it. They have the high-level strategy, inside and out, plus the granular how-to-make-it work strategy—and customize it for YOU. It’s got to be a real-deal, proven strategy.

A way to integrate the processes in your workday (there are 4 main ones) because focusing only on ONE process will leave you lost in the other 3.

A way of THINKING so you know how to manage everything you need to do. Right thinking will give you clarity, confidence, and control in your workday.

A method for DECISION MAKING (no decisions = no progress)

A process of EXECUTION that is predictable, reliable, and easy. And this one has to be all-encompassing. It’s NOT just about your to-do list.

Think an app can do all of this? You’ll be disappointed if you do. And you’ll still be unproductive.

And if you think you don’t have the TIME or the MONEY to fix this problem, what you need FIRST is even more important.

 The FIRST step is to get support on the strategy FIRST.

Make sure you have a legitimate plan that is do-able first. Always.

And a question for you, real quick…

Is this an area where you could use some support?  

I’ve got the place to start…

I’ve got 90-minute strategy sessions available to you—always—for $1200. But since you’re here, reading this blog post, you can get your strategy for only $597.

I’ll map out your strategy A to Z, step by step to show you how to get a handle on tasks, time, email, and information. Plus, you get access to our recorded Zoom call for 30 days.

Email me now to let me know you want one of these: leslie@productiveday.com.

​

Now, back to the list of what to let go of this year…

3 – It’s time to stop expecting paper to be your task management system.

The paper to-do list has been around FOREVER.

You used to be able to run your day from a legal pad or a fancy-pants planner, but that won’t work anymore.

Paper is a TOOL, not a system.

And you need to understand the importance of a SYSTEM.

You need to get clear on WHY a system is essential—how it operates, what it can do, and the RESULTS it will give you.

You need to stop thinking that your to-do list of 25 tasks(!) will get done today. Not happening.

The list must be shorter. The tasks must be real tasks—more specific… small… and achievable.

If you really want more progress in your workday, let go of the paper and go digital.

Pick ONE place. A favorite digital task list you can see on the big monitor in your office. (If you keep trying to run your day from your PHONE, that’s ANOTHER thing to let go of in 2025.)

And even when you synch your laptop with your phone, try to work mainly from your computer when you can.

A single, digital task plan you can see on the big screen is valuable. (You need more details than you think.)

And yes, there IS a place for paper in your workday, but it’s not as a task management plan or a to-do list.

Paper is great for quick jots while you’re on the phone. Maybe for meeting notes if you’re not into “Remarkable” yet or you don’t have another online platform for note-taking.

But the thing about paper is that if you use it, you need to DO something with it after you finish the meeting or hang up the phone.

Don’t let paper accumulate, no matter what’s ON the paper.

But no matter what… let go of paper for managing things to do. It’s letting you down in so many ways…

It’s a mix of items: tasks, ideas, follow ups, projects, and more
Tasks lack details you need to make decisions
The list isn’t in order of priority or importance
There’s no plan for when you’ll take action
You can’t easily reprioritize when your day changes

And I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

Paper is a TOOL, not a SYSTEM. So let… it… go.

Instead, choose a digital approach you can use on your computer and THEN synch it with your phone.

OK, that’s my list for you. I’m giving it to you straight, because I want you to WIN in 2025.

Your workday strategy is SERIOUS business. Don’t run it by CHANCE. Run it by CHOICE.

It has a hundred elements that are all connected and there’s no magic wand (or app) that will fix it in an instant.

If you want to use a SOLID strategy in 2025, I would LOVE to support you. It’s my specialty. My reason for being.

In 90 minutes, I will give you crystal-clear plan.

Here’s what you can do to get your personalized strategy:

• Hit REPLY on this email and let me know you want to book a strategy session.
• I’ll send you an invoice and a booking link.
• Once the invoice is paid and the call is booked, you’ll complete a quick form for me.
• We’ll do our 90-minute session, where you get clear on your entire workday strategy and the steps you can take.
• After our call, you get to work on the strategy with access to our recorded video for 30 days.

Don’t start this year without a real strategy! Let’s map this out for you so you have clarity about how to move forward.

Email me today and let’s get your strategy on track: leslie@productiveday.com.

The simple answer is to “reprioritize,” but that’s easier said than done if you don’t have all your tasks in one place.

Without a solid system, you’ll worry about what’s slipping through the cracks when you pivot to handle a new issue.

On days like this, where you’re juggling endless emails, struggling to find information, and losing track of tasks, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed and stressed out.

Decisions are harder to make. And given the pressure you’re under, planning and prioritizing are huge challenges.

With every interruption and distraction, you feel further behind and with a surprise issue, your stress can reach a breaking point.

By the end of the day, you’ll feel like you didn’t accomplish much and you’re likely to take that stress home.

If this sounds familiar, here are some steps you can take to manage tasks most effectively, be more prepared for the unexpected, and reduce its impact.

1. Collect All Tasks in ONE Place
   When you try to tackle too many tasks in a day that doesn’t have the time, you’ll end up dissatisfied and disappointed that you didn’t accomplish meaningful work. Without the ability to accurately prioritize, you can also choose to work tasks that are NOT the top priority and lose time on more trivial things.
   
   Instead, centralize tasks in one, digital system so you have full awareness of what you need to work on—both today and in the future. It doesn’t matter where the tasks came from or whether you’ll work on them today or not. When tasks are centralized, you’ll have a complete overview of responsibilities. You’ll be better able prioritize and act with confidence on the tasks that are important to work on today.

2. Clarify Each Task
   When adding tasks to your system, break them down into simple, actionable steps. Starting with clear, small action steps helps you build momentum, making it easier to stay productive and motivated. For example, instead of “work on the ABC project,” try “start the first draft of the ABC project proposal.”

3. Plan and Prioritize
   With tasks all in one system, it’s so much easier to compare tasks and decide which action steps must be taken this week and which steps will have to wait until later—tomorrow, next week, and beyond. Give EVERY task a target date of action. “ASAP” is not realistic and HOPE is not a plan. Thinking “later” or “at some point” aren’t helpful either. Give every task a target date of action and you’re instantly prioritizing with more precision. Before you know it, you’ll have a real plan to keep you on track.

4. Focus on Fewer Tasks Per Day
   Aim to complete just a few of your most important tasks each day to ensure your plan is realistic and achievable. If you try to accomplish 10, 15 or 20 tasks each day, you’re likely to be disappointed at the end of the day. Less is more when targeting what you can REALLY do each day and, remember, you still have to deal with email, too. With fewer tasks planned per day, you’ll be sure to finish the day with a sense of accomplishment so you can look forward to unplugging in your personal time.

5. Work with Peace of Mind
   Once you’ve chosen a few key tasks for the day, mentally let go of the rest. Since each task is already contained in one system and each one shows a target date of action, you’re not facing an “endless to-do list.” This focused approach reduces distractions and stress, and helps you stay productive.

Last-minute issues and surprise tasks will continue to show up and there’s nothing you can do to control that.

But with a solid task management plan in place, you’ll be in a stronger position to deal with shifting priorities and the unexpected.

With a solid task management system, you’ll…

…be better equipped to handle the unexpected without being thrown off course and feeling ineffective.
…have more confidence that you’re choosing the right course of action.
…be able to pivot without missing, losing, or forgetting anything.
…stay in control of the tasks you’re NOT focused on when you have to switch gears.
…address surprises with clarity and certainty, knowing all your other tasks are under control.

After handling a new issue, you can quickly return to your other important tasks for the day—knowing that all of them are centralized in one place—without having to waste time to regroup, recover, “clean up,” or start over.

With a central, digital task system, you’ll know how to make the right decision when a new issue comes up. If it truly is the top priority of the moment, you’ll be ready to take care of it with confidence, knowing that you’re spending your time wisely without sacrificing productivity.

Do you get interrupted ALL the time?

Is your frustration about this going through the ROOF?

Whether you’re trying to accomplish small tasks or get into deeper work to think, strategize, create, or innovate, far too often, focus and concentration are getting broken and that means…

…it’s going to take you LONGER to get your work done—and get it done WELL
…thinking, making decisions, and keeping your train of thought is HARDER to do
…you may have to come in early, work late, or work weekends to get anything done
…your effectiveness is compromised and so is the quality of your work

Here’s how to handle some of the most common interruptions and distractions so you can keep your time and focus (and sanity) intact.

VISITORS
You may get a steady stream of visitors in your office when at work and this causes you to want to disappear once in a while.

Are you uncomfortable shutting your door to get some time to do your work? Do you feel guilty for not staying 100% available to your team or your co-workers?

If so, this is not uncommon. But please understand that it’s unrealistic to have an all-day, open-door policy and expect to get your work done and get it done with a high degree of quality and accuracy.

You really DON’T have to be accessible and available 100% of the time. But you already know this to be true, because of the many times you’ve been unavailable due to other commitments on your calendar, like when you’re…

…in a half-day meeting
…at the doctor’s office or in a dentist’s chair
…in a car, on a train, or in an airplane to get to an on-site meeting
…in a 1-hour meeting with a client or a prospect
…in a training class

In these situations, your co-workers will wait for you to become available and nothing falls apart while they’re waiting. And if something DID fall apart, then there’s another conversation to be had about why that happened.

Trying to be 100% available to everyone all the time means you’re placing your “availability” as a higher priority than accomplishing your work. But finishing tasks and projects, and reaching goals are extremely important, too.

Protect time in the morning AND in the afternoon to get your work done, and shut your door. This is essential if you want to get your MOST important tasks accomplished during the day and make progress you can feel great about. How much time? An hour to an hour and a half in the morning and the same in the afternoon. Every day.

PHONE CALLS and NOTIFICATIONS
Do you feel compelled to pick up the phone when it rings even though you’re on a roll getting things done?

If depends on who it is, of course, but many people would choose to answer the phone—or a text or an email—because they’re such magnets. They’re hard to resist.

To counter the magnetic pull, first understand HOW you’ll manage these BEFORE they occur. Make your decisions AHEAD OF TIME.

Otherwise, you’ll be wide open to interruptions and distractions—which you’ll battle the whole time when you’re trying to work—and when you’re done, you’ll wonder if you did your best.

  Silence your phones, let callers go to voice mail, and turn OFF notifications—email and any others. Get your work accomplished with quiet, clarity, and focus in order to produce high quality work you can feel good about. When you’re not interrupted in the first place, you won’t be tempted to veer off track.

MULTITASKING
Study after study has proven that multi-tasking is inefficient and ineffective. And yet professionals still do it—and many are still so proud of it! (Is this you, too?)

When you lead a split-screen, split-focus, split-attention day, you’re ultimately compromising the quality of your work, your productivity and progress, and your relationships.

Are you guilty of having a conversation with someone on the phone (or standing in your office) while trying to type an email? Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. You’re not fully present for the task or the other person.

And it will take you TWICE as long to finish tasks when you multitask. That’s been proven time and time again. When you try to “do it all,” you actually get nothing done. Plus, trying to “do it all” leads to high stress and burnout.

Instead, respect the work you need to do, the deadlines you’ve set, and the relationships you have.

  Practice working on ONE task at a time—intentionally and with GREAT focus. Work on a task from start to finish in a space of quiet, uninterrupted time and you’ll not only enjoy the sense of accomplishment from hitting the finish line, but you’ll also get a shot of motivation to keep going.

One of the main reasons that interruptions and distractions are so powerful is connected to FOMO: the fear of missing out. But this particular road block is going to stop your progress every time and lead you to more stress.

You can’t be, do, or have everything, everywhere, all the time, so if you want to improve your productivity and progress—and increase peace of mind—start getting comfortable with the idea protecting time and prioritizing.

Ask yourself: what’s the MOST important thing I need to do right now?

Get clarity, make a decision, and get started. Focus on a small, achievable task. If you’ve planned and prioritized correctly, you’ll get to the NEXT most important task as soon as you finish THIS one.

Management consultant, educator, and author Peter Drucker offers some very wise words to keep in mind:

“If there is any one ‘secret’ of effectiveness, it is concentration.  Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time.”

This is something you can do, too. What’s the ONE task you need to accomplish RIGHT now?

Finish it without letting ANYTHING break your focus or steal your time. Instead, make the MOST of your time. You deserve to make progress from the time and the effort you put in.

Now you’re waiting for the other person to get back to you.

But what if they don’t?

How often have you suddenly remembered something you’re waiting for and thought, “I know I called and left a message, but when was that?” Or, “I sent an email. But when did I send that? I don’t know if I got a reply.”

This is the guessing game you play.

Since too much time may have passed, your progress has surely slowed down at just the time when you’re in a hurry to get answers and get it all done. You could be getting close to a deadline—or worse, you’ve passed it.

You may get frustrated at the other person for not getting back to you. They’re holding you up, right?

Not so fast. What’s really happening is a loss of control of these “pending tasks” and “things you’re waiting for.” And while it’s easy to blame others for not getting back to you—and for the predicament you might be in—it’s better to establish a way to keep track of these tasks in a way that puts YOU in charge.

Up until now, you may not have realized there’s a better way to manage these kinds of tasks.

In the past, you may have made attempts to stay on top of things by…

…putting related papers in a “pending” pile on your desk.
…putting items in a “waiting for” file in a desk drawer.
…making a note somewhere if there were no related papers or files.

Or you may have taken a risk and simply expected (hoped?) that the other person would get back to you.

Oops.

All 3 of these options are flashing a big warning sign: TROUBLE AHEAD.

And trouble can show up in your day in a variety of ways…

1. You miss targets, deadlines, and opportunities.
   You miss a deadline on an important task or project.
   You miss an event or connecting with others.
   You miss opportunities with clients or prospects.

2. It damages trust and reliability in relationships.
   If you’re ultimately responsible for meeting needs, requirements, deadlines, or simply the expectations of others, but you don’t deliver, because someone else didn’t get back to you, it will reflect poorly on you. And those to whom you promised to deliver might question your reliability.

3. Reactivity in your day goes up.
   When tasks or follow ups are suddenly remembered and they become the most urgent thing you need to do, it will throw off your plan for the day. What you had planned to accomplish might have to be put aside so you can catch up on something that’s now late.

4. You’re losing TIME.
   If items are waiting in a “pending pile” or a “waiting for” file, you’ll lose time when thumbing through that same pile every few days to see what you’ve not, what you’re waiting for, when you last took action, how you reached out, and then try to figure out what to do next and when.

5. You’re not prioritizing.
   When items wait in a pile or in a file, they all reflect the same level of importance. There’s no level of priority OR a plan of action, which means your highest priority could be at the bottom of the pile or in the back of the file.

To stay on top of pending tasks and things you’re waiting for, you need a reliable task management method.

WITHOUT a reliable task management method, you’re unwittingly leaving the accomplishment of a task to chance.

You’re leaving progress, results, and outcomes up to someone ELSE. (Danger!)

Fortunately, this can be avoided with the creation of a simple system for managing tasks.

STEP 1: Consolidate ALL tasks—not just the ones you set aside to wait for someone else.

Establish ONE, central, digital task list to contain All of the tasks you’re responsible for. This means pulling tasks AWAY from the many places they come from and there are more than 10 different sources of tasks in the typical workday.

These include (but are not limited to) email, phone calls, texts, social media, teams applications, project management systems, meetings, conversations, the papers/files on your desk, and more.  

And when a to-do list is created on paper, it becomes yet another source of tasks, because you filled it up with tasks. So get AWAY from using paper lists, too. Those are partial lists that are highly inefficient to use for managing tasks.

Consolidate and centralize tasks into one central, digital list. Identify the FIRST action step to get something started or the NEXT action step to keep something moving forward. At this point, the ONLY two things you need to identify are WHAT you’re going to do and WHEN.

STEP 2: Include “pending tasks” and “things you’re waiting for” in your Task List.

When you identify something you’re waiting for, the key is understanding that these are really TASKS for your task list. Think about it this way… what will you do if you DON’T hear back from that person?

When you answer that question, that’s the task. If you’d say, “I’ll call” or I’ll email,” THAT’S a task.

Now decide…

WHEN will you reach out again if you DON’T hear back? How many days will go by before you take action? THAT’S your action date on the task.

HOW will you reach out again? Determine if you’ll call, email, text, etc…

Incorporate all of the “pending tasks” or “things you’re waiting for” into the same task management plan to prioritize them alongside everything else you need to do.

Identify what you’ll do if you don’t get what you expect and target a date of action that at least gives the other person a chance to do what they promised.

If you DON’T get what you expect by a certain date, then you can take action. If you DO hear back from the other person sooner, then find it on your list and take it from there.

Here’s the bottom line…

When you want to be highly efficient, effective, and productive…
When you want to stay in control of your work and your time…
When you want to be dependable and reliable…
When you want to get outcomes and results on time…

You can’t rely on others to get back to you.

Take charge. Keep track of every task and follow up.

When all tasks—including pending items and things you’re waiting for—are all part of the same task management plan, you’ll be able to…

Manage ALL tasks in one system, no matter where they came from.
Plan action on each task, no matter when you’ll take action.
Prioritize tasks accurately with 100% awareness of tasks and all the facts.
Be more proactive on tasks and stay in control of their progress.
Avoid missing or forgetting deadlines, tasks, follow-ups, events, opportunities, and information.
Take action on the right tasks and follow-ups at the right time.
Save time, energy, and effort .
Work more efficiently and be more productive.
Reduce stress and worry about what might have been missed, lost, or forgotten.

They key here is that YOU are in control of your tasks. You’re taking action when YOU think it’s best. It won’t be too soon and it won’t be too late, and you’ll stay on top of things, because you’ll have a plan for each and every item.

The minute you make a request in a conversation, on a phone call, in a voice mail or in an email, add a task on your digital task list that tells you what step you’ll take and when you’ll take it if you DON’T get what you’ve asked for by the time you need it.

Then you’ll always stay in control of progress on pending items and things you’re waiting for—WITHOUT having to rely on others who may or may not get back to you.

It’s ever-present and never-ending. And it tends to rule our days arbitrarily.

I get it. Email is like a magnet for all of us, because we succumb to its pull very easily as we hope to keep it under control as often as possible.

Staying in control is the name of the game. Who wants to be blind-sided or surprised? Said no one.

And you don’t want egg on your face if you miss something.

So, it’s EASY to get stuck in email jail and feel like you’re “living from the Inbox,” answering emails all day. Here are a few reasons why…

You feel “in the know” when reading a new email. You’re in the loop, you know what’s going on, and you aren’t missing out.

 You feel connected when reading email. It’s a form of social interaction and communication with others.

 It’s entertaining to read email, whether email brings more interesting reading, purposeful work, or fun messages to break up the daily grind.

 You feel a sense of community when answering email. You’re a part of the team. When emails go back and forth between you and your co-workers, you feel engaged and heard.

It’s an accomplishment when you can reply to or forward emails, and then file or delete them.

It feels efficient when you can file or delete emails without having to do anything else.

It feels productive to get something done right then and there, and NOT add a to-do on your to-do list.

Taking these actions can feel like progress, but I’m sorry to report that they’re only the tip of the iceberg.

If you don’t know what to DO with the emails—or the tasks, information, or attachments within—AFTER you’ve read, replied to or forwarded those emails, you’re automatically going to lose time and productivity.

Why? Because you’re leaving email in the Inbox until you know how to deal with them.

But email is NEVER best managed while it’s still sitting in the Inbox.

When it’s left to build up, that means you’re using the Inbox as a file cabinet and a to-do list, which makes it impossible to stay on top of what you need to do, know where you need to be, and know where your information is. You’ll spend more time looking for things, catching up, re-reading, and back-tracking.

The more email continues to roll in and scroll off the screen, the less control you have.

You’re at risk for losing tasks, forgetting follow-ups, missing opportunities and events, and losing track of conversations, information, and requests.

You worry that important information and tasks have been missed, lost, or forgotten.

In summary, email is STILL a leading cause of wasted time and lost productivity.

But it doesn’t have to be.

The first thing to understand is that email is not the problem. The problem is not having a way to manage it.

Take these steps to better manage email and regain lost time you can spend more productively.

1. Remove All Temptation
   Turn off all email alerts, chimes, notifications, and pop-ups that tell you a new email has arrived. Alerts break your train of thought and concentration, and this is the LAST thing you need when you’re trying to keep your focus and get things done on tasks outside of the Inbox.

2. Use a Reliable System to Manage Tasks
   Did you know that email management is really task management in disguise?  Yep, it’s information management in disguise, too.
   
   If you’re working WITHOUT a system to manage tasks or WITHOUT systems to manage various types of information, you’re ALREADY in a bind.
   
   That’s why it can be such a challenge to manage email. This is ESSENTIAL to understand.
   
   So, to best manage tasks and information, you must get these emails—or the information, tasks, and attachments within—OUT of the Inbox. Seriously. You have to get it out.
   
   Filing and deleting are easy, but the rest MUST go somewhere else in order to be best managed for ACTION (that’s your single, central task management system) and for future REFERENCE (and there are many places where you can store information.)

3. Check Email at Intervals throughout the Day
   You’ve heard the advice about checking email just once a day or twice a day at specific times, right?
   
   That’s a VERY rigid approach and not one I would recommend (and that’s coming from a routine-oriented person!)
   
   The truth is, no matter the timing, you want to get a few tasks accomplished first. THEN go look at email.
   
   In Taskology, a task is designed to be small and achievable—and take a limited amount of time (which is part of the formula)—and this makes it EASY to understand how many tasks you can accomplish on any given day.
   
   Get a few tasks accomplished early on in your day and THEN go look at email—and in Taskology, that means getting it back to ZERO.
   
   Once that happens, then you go back to your Task List and accomplish the next most important task of the day. You simply toggle back and forth throughout the day between tasks and email.
   
   No need for rigid, set times. No need for a schedule. It’s different for every person and from day to day, the cadence will change, but the concept remains the same.

4. Process Email. Don’t Just Check It.
   When you look at your email Inbox and you only have time to check for urgent emails, that’s fine. But getting email under control requires PROCESSING it OUT of the Inbox.
   
   In this phase you’re replying to emails, forwarding emails, filing emails, and deleting emails. You’re also saving attachments, getting contact information into Contacts, adding events to the Calendar, and the most important of all…
   
   Adding tasks to your Task List.
   
   Make sure you protect enough time in your day to literally PROCESS email OUT. It’s no different than getting voice mails OFF of your phone. It’s just a different kind of communication.

Ultimately, you CAN reduce the magnetic effect of email and avoid “living from the Inbox” by making emails disappear… the FIRST time you read them.

When you know how to process email OUT of the Inbox, you’re free to use your time elsewhere—to focus on accomplishing tasks, completing projects, and moving initiatives forward that matter the most.

Want to dive deeper into mastering your email? I recently talked about these strategies on the “Pull the Chute” podcast with Jeff Sesol and Janna Landry Listen in to learn more about processing emails and avoiding the overwhelm of a cluttered inbox.

Take control of your email and you’ll take control of your time and productivity, too.