WHAT: Daily Highlight is a hack from one of my favorite books Make Time by John Zeratsky and Jake Knapp. The idea is instead of trying to do a million things every day, I pick just one thing to focus on. Even though I usually have lots of stuff to do, having one main thing to do makes it more likely that I'll actually do it.
HOW: I use a mobile app called Things to jot down a list of tasks that unsettle me. I pick the most unsettling and assign it to today's date. I have activated a widget version of the app to cover the first screen of my phone to only show tasks with dates — which in this case only my Daily Highlight — creating a digital post-it reminder of the one thing I need to do for the day.
WHY: If I don’t prioritize, everything seems urgent and important. If I define the single most important task for each day, almost nothing seems urgent or important. Oftentimes, it’s just a matter of letting little bad things happen to get the big important things done.
"The answer to overwhelm is not spinning more plates — or doing more — it’s defining the few things that can really fundamentally change your business and life." — Tim Ferriss