Getting Things Done: Let's say that you have a bunch of
things that you need to get done
you probably write out a little to-do
list or you keep a mental note but just
how effective are these methods i know
for a lot of people and essay that could
have been finished in four hours becomes
a four-day ordeal homework that could
have easily been done in 45 minutes ends
up taking all night so how do we get
things done as efficiently and as fast
as possible to answer lies in the way
you make your list i'll give you an
example when it comes to making videos
for this channel it takes me anywhere
from six to ten hours of work to produce
one video even though it takes this many
hours I am frequently able to do all of
this work in just one day
how do i do it what I do is I planned
out all of the things I have to do the
day before I use a whiteboard like this
one
I like to put velcro on the back of
these white boards and put them on the
wall across from my bed so when I wake
up in the morning the first thing I see
is my to-do list
I immediately know that these are the
goals for today what do you write on the
boards well let's say for example my
goal is to make a video today
now on this whiteboard what I'll do is
I'll break down the exact steps i need
to take in order to get this done i
categorize each component of the video
making process the first component is
the script what I need to get done first
is the title which only takes about 10
minutes tops
once i get the title done i cross it out
and I immediately contact my dumb nail
guy tell him what I want this takes like
another 10 minutes i consider this to be
another component in itself now do a
rough draft which takes about 45 minutes
i'll proofread it and edit which takes
about another 30 minutes and that's it
the script component is done now for
every major component what I like to do
is I like to put a little box next to it
and once I complete a component I check
it when I complete a task I cross that
out every time I'm done with the major
component I'll give myself a little
break i'll cook lunch or I'll browse
reddit for 10 minutes then it's back to
work and on to the next component next
is the animation i usually break this
down into two sessions each taking about
an hour but if the video is extremely
long i'll make it into three sessions
and that's another component done then
it's audio first record the raw do i do
a couple of takes it takes about an hour
then I edit the audio then I
add the background music that's another
30 minutes and that's another component
done checkmark little break then I think
the animation with the audio this takes
about 30 minutes to an hour and that's
another component done the final
component is the launch and for the
launch I have a big empty box because
it's the last step for the whole process
I write the prescription I put the tag
schedule the video make the captions
make the end screen all of that stuff
takes me about 30 minutes and then i'm
done with the whole project the reason
why we have such a hard time getting
things done is because when we use a
plain old to-do list all of the tasks
look ginormous your brain goes oh my god
this is going to take me eight hours to
complete and natural you just start
procrastinating your reasoning being oh
you know I'll just enjoy myself a little
bit more before I shut myself away from
the world 48 hours but when you break it
down to extremely simple steps you start
taking advantage of what's called
implementation intention
it's a psychological effect that is the
core of many methods out there regarding
studying and work habits when you break
the test down and be as specific as
possible it becomes easier for you to
get things done
this includes specifying the where the
when and the exact steps so instead of
thing
oh I need to study this week you need to
be saying okay when i'm done with this
class I'm going to go to the library i'm
going to read pages a to be and I'm
going to do questions y to z by changing
the way you write your to-do list you
become more effective in getting things
done and that's how these people out
there who get massive loads of work done
every single day they're not superhuman
they just know how to write a proper
to-do list