The President of the United States is not desperately trying to remember his to-do list.
He has outsourced to his staff all the things that come next so he can focus 100% on what’s in front of him.
No, you don’t have a group of aides but there’s still a key principle you can use: Get it out of your head.
Every morning the President gets a top secret document with everything he needs to know from the agencies beneath him.
What’s key isn’t what the document contains, it’s what it doesn’t contain: 50 status updates, 100 tweets, 10 cat pictures and 1000 unimportant emails.
He can focus on what matters because he isn’t distracted by what doesn’t.
The President doesn’t make little decisions. The thousands of people working under him handle those so only the big stuff bubbles up to his agenda.
But given you don’t have thousands of people working under you (or maybe any for that matter) you handle every decision, business and personal.
Save your limited decision-making power for the things that matter. Everything else should be “satisficed.”
When changes come up for the Commander-in-Chief he shifts seamlessly because his aides have already revised the day’s plans. So he stays calm.
You can stay cool too, but it requires a little bit more effort. New things will come in, priorities will change and you need to process and adapt.
Always have your notebook (or the equivalent thereof) ready to capture new ideas and to-do’s.
Ever seen a picture of the President’s desk? Does it have piles of papers and 1000 random post-its? No.
Research shows a desk that looks like the aftermath of a natural disaster saps your ability to concentrate.
You don’t need to be a neat-freak but when it’s time for you to stop planning and be the VIP, have a separate work area designed for focus.