How To Have the Most Productive Day of Your Life By Using a “Visual To-Do List”

Have you ever told yourself, at the end of a day, that tomorrow it’s all going to change?

Like this is going to be the day that it all changes – I’m fed up and something has to change.

But then the next day comes and you get so caught up in the stress, the lack of sleep, the mess of things – that you don’t do half of what you said you would?

It becomes “yet another” day where you said you’d do things to be healthier and happier, but they just don’t happen?

I’m going to show you a very simple technique I do every night that has allowed me to hit almost 100% of my goals every single day I apply it.

I call it the “visual to-do list.”

The Problem With New Habits

Why I Suck At Getting Up Early 

Historically, I’ve tried to set all these new habits for myself that were really going to improve my life: wake up earlier, meditate, do yoga, drink more water, etc.

The problem, like anything, was actually doing them. Isn’t that where most of us kinda get tripped up?

There was one in particular that continually sabotaged me: getting up earlier.

It’s a habit I know will help me meditate more regularly, it’ll help my productivity, and it’ll lower my stress levels since I won’t have to rush in the morning.

But I just can’t do it.

Nope.

Won’t happen.

It wasn’t until I started studying more about Benjamin Franklin and his nightly review, and I came up with something called the “visual to-do list” that I finally made it a reality.

The Benjamin Franklin Nightly Review of Awesomeness

Benjamin Franklin was clearly a student of personal development. Each night he dedicated himself to doing a nightly review of his own virtues – key personality traits that he found admirable in sages and people in history.

He did this nightly review technique where he reflected on his virtues, and whether or not he hit the numbers that he wanted – which was a way of self reflecting to see if he was being the person he wanted to be.

I actually do this with my health, and found something really interesting: The nights where I do a nightly, visual to-do list, and then leave it on my desk to be seen first thing in the morning, I had an almost 100% “hit rate” for all the habits I was cultivating.

So in other words, I first reviewed how the day went – what health habits did I set for myself, and whether or not I did them.

Then, I did a visualize to do list for the next day. What habits and key health (or life) activities am I doing tomorrow to get a step closer to the dream?

I found that if I listed my habits – the night before – and then left that sheet on my desk as the first thing I saw, almost 100% of the time the next day I would do 100% of the habits I said I would.

It’s SO simple and so effective – it psychologically attunes you to your purpose for the upcoming day – to Master The Day. ;-).

Hence the title of my book, hah.

You can see your schedule before it happens so it makes it so much more difficult to get derailed in real time. You already internally have your schedule and calendar in your head.

Your Tiny Habit For Today

Just do the nightly review – the Ben Franklin review – and emphasize the health habits you’ve set for yourself.

Did you do them or not?

Then do the visual to-do list for tomorrow.

Write the habits or the key tasks.

Walk.

Mediate.

Eat lunch at this place.

Etc.

And you’ll be so much more likely to make them a reality without getting sidetracked. Try it!

It’s possibly the simplest, most effective thing you can implement tomorrow to actually do the things you said you would.

Try it and let me know how it works for you.

– Alex

What do you use to stay productive? Share below.