Gravel

Forget, for a moment, we don't have enough hours in the day.

I was recently taught this trap we all get snared in. At first glance, it feels undeniably true because we have more things on our task list than time to do them. But it's no longer the case if we can offload any nagging tasks that have the lowest-yielding bids for our time.

David Allen calls it "brain dump", a tool to banish those energy-sucking tasks from our brain with a mental spring cleaning. 

Demir Bentley and Carey Bentley, the productivity power couple, ask us to imagine pushing a wheelbarrow full of gravel. The more gravel we add in, the heavier the wheelbarrow becomes, and the more energy required to push it. Notice the way we fill up the wheelbarrow. It all seems so easy. Fill the wheelbarrow first with the trivial tasks, the size of gravel. Then the last bit with heavy rock, which turns out to be the highest-ranking or priority task. By that time, the wheelbarrow can hardly fit the rock. 

A good habit, in other words, is to triage our task list and fit in the most important one first. Get the rock in our wheelbarrow first. Once we have settled the rock, the gravel will find the way to go in (or out wherever appropriate).