T-Shirt-Size your to-do list

Do you have an unwieldy, never-ending to-do list?
​My clients are often frustrated when things on their to-do lists aren’t getting done. They feel that they must be lacking in motivation or self-discipline.

While it is possible that motivation or self-discipline can impact your productivity, more often than not, to-do lists become unwieldy because they contain large end outcomes (e.g., “write a book”) without clear, small immediate next steps (“draft a table of contents”).

Honing your skills in a technique called T-Shirt-Sizing can help you to make your to-do lists less Herculean.

One solution: T-Shirt-Sizing
What do I mean by "T-Shirt-Sizing"? 

At Google, we used the term "T-Shirt-Sizing" as a metaphor for the process of estimating how much work each project or task will take. If a project seems like it might take multiple months, that’s a “Large.” If a project seems like it can get done in an afternoon, that’s a “Small”.

T-Shirt-Sizing is a critical skill for making your to-do list...doable.

How do I T-Shirt-Size?
You can leverage T-Shirt-Sizing once you've identified and prioritized the list of projects that you need to work on. This technique enables you to create and size concrete next steps.

I recommend asking yourself three questions to T-Shirt-Size while you’re making your daily to-do list: 

1. What's my current highest priority project?
   
2. What’s the smallest unit of work that I can deliver for that project? 
   
3. Can that unit be readily completed in 1 day or less? If not, what's an even smaller unit? 
   

How will T-Shirt-Sizing help me? 
​T-Shirt-Sizing will ensure that the tasks on your to-do list are small enough that they are possible to accomplish. 

This technique will break a behemoth, Large T-shirt project down into a set of Small T-shirt tasks that will make it easier for you to take action. Once you start taking action, you'll create a sense of momentum so that you feel proud of your progress instead of buried beneath a behemoth. 

Ideally, your Small tasks will be easily doable in 1 day and will have a clearly measurable result. Here are a few examples:

• Write 1 page of your book (with no requirements on quality)
• Draft a set of slides for your presentation or lecture
• List the collaborators needed for your upcoming project
• List 5 things that you want in your next job
• Schedule a career check-in with your skip-level manager
  
  

T-Shirt-Sizing is a skill, so don’t expect yourself to get it right at first. You may identify what seems like a Small task that then takes a longer time than you’d estimated. You may come up with Small tasks and still not want to approach them because of dread - at this point, you can start to become curious about your motivation. I’ll review ideas around motivating yourself in another post. 

By practicing making Small tasks and checking how many you’re able to get done, you can revisit and revise your to-do lists until T-Shirt-Sizing serves you.

Know someone who could benefit from coaching around time management? Schedule a time for a free chemistry call with me. 

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