WHAT: Burner Lists is a time hack inspired by Cal Newport's Productivity Funnel . The goal is to organize my tasks into different priority levels or "burners" to help me focus on what's most important.
HOW: I use Trello boards for my lists. It's incredibly intuitive and effective, especially for those new to digital organization. For advanced users who want more flexibility in viewing their items (list, table, kanban), you might want to explore Notion*.
Here are the different Burner Lists in my system:
— Front Burner (Ready)
- Tasks that are ready for immediate action and will be completed this week.
- These are my top priorities that deserve my focused attention.
- This is the list where I choose my Daily Highlight
— Back Burner (Next)
- Tasks that need to get done, but I'm not actively working on them right now (maybe next week)
- These are lower priority items that can simmer on the back burner until I have capacity.
— Kitchen Sink (Clarify)
- Blurry tasks where I need more information or context before I can act.
- If I don't know where the item goes, it goes here — items where I need to do some upfront work to understand the requirements
— Waiting
- Tasks where I'm waiting to hear back from someone before I can proceed (e.g. feedback, approval)
- These are tasks blocked on external dependencies.
- Sometimes I have multiple Waiting lists with regular people or regular clients and call them "Waiting for [person/client]" to keep track of who I'm waiting on.
— To Discuss
- Topics I need to discuss with specific people or teams.
- This could be things like agenda items for upcoming meetings.
- Sometimes I have multiple To Discuss lists with regular people or teams and call them "To discuss with [person/team]" — my topics when I get the time to discuss with them.
— Scheduled
- Complex tasks that require scheduling, details, or steps.
- These are items I've blocked time for in my calendar that include additional information like deadlines, subtasks, etc.
WHY: The key benefits of the Burner Lists system are:
- Focus on What Matters: By separating tasks into different "burners", I can easily identify my top priorities (Front Burner) and avoid getting distracted by lower-impact tasks.
- Reduce Cognitive Load: Having a clear system for organizing tasks helps reduce mental clutter and makes it easier to remember what I need to do.
- Optimize Execution: The "Scheduled" burner ensures I allocate proper time and attention to complex tasks, while the "Waiting" and "To Discuss" burners help me stay on top of dependencies and conversations.
- Continuous Improvement: The "Clarify" burner prompts me to thoroughly understand tasks before diving in, while the "Back Burner" allows me to revisit lower priority items when you have capacity.
Overall, the Burner Lists system helps me be more intentional about how I spend my time and energy, leading to greater productivity and a sense of control over my workload.
*Although I mostly use Notion for note-taking (I tend to separate my tasks from my notes), it's a great platform if you like everything in one place. Notion is well-designed for comprehensive task management and leverages on connected data — you can view the items in your lists in diferent layouts allowing a more comprehensive data analysis, leading to more accurate decision making. Plus, Notion pages can now be turned into a website.