The Balanced Day
Your list isn’t too long. Your day is too short. Fit it: 1, 3, 5.
Each day gets nine slots in three sizes: 1 big task, 3 medium and 5 small. It rests on one idea: a day has a fixed size, so plan it to fit.
- YOU PLAN
- Each morning
- THE LIMIT
- 1 big, 3 medium, 5 small
- CORE MOVE
- Big one first
The idea
Keep one master list of everything. Each day, pull out one big task, three medium and five small. Work those, and whatever you don’t finish goes back on the list.
It swaps a list you can never finish for one you can. Small tasks are easy to start, so they fill the day. A slot just for the big task means they can’t crowd it out.
How it works
Size the day each morning, then do the big one first.
01ANYTIME
Keep a master list
Everything you might do, in any order.
02EACH MORNING
Size your picks
One big, three medium, five small. Or pick them the night before.
03FIRST THING
Big one first
Do it while you’re fresh. Medium tasks go in the gaps, small ones when your energy dips.
04EVENING
Send back the rest
Anything unfinished returns to the master list, to be picked again or not.
REPEAT TOMORROW
Then back to step 01.
During the day: something new is a small task unless it has to replace a medium one. Repeating chores sit outside the nine. They happen anyway.
Signs it’s working
- After a week, the big task gets done on most days.
- Your day rarely holds more than its nine.
- After a month, few tasks have been sent back more than twice.
- The master list stays long, and that stops bothering you, because you only look at nine.
Common pitfalls
Nine small tasks, no big one
Pick the big thing first. The rest fills in around it.
Overfilling the slots
Want a fourth medium task? One of the three goes back.
The same big task bouncing back
It’s too big. Make its first step today’s big task.
Never picking at all
Set a regular time for it, such as with your morning coffee.
Where it comes from
The Balanced Day is based on the 1-3-5 rule. Here’s the original, what we changed to make it simpler, and how to make it yours.
1 · THE ORIGINAL
The 1-3-5 rule is usually credited to Alex Cavoulacos of The Muse, the career site she co-founded. Keep one master list. Each day, pull out one big thing, three medium things and five small things, and send back whatever you don’t finish.
2 · OUR VERSION
We kept the nine slots and added two small habits: do the big one first, while you’re fresh, and keep routine chores out of the nine so they don’t use up slots.
3 · YOUR VERSION
To Do Machine starts every system with the fewest rules that still work. That’s on purpose: it’s quicker to learn, and using it shows you what you actually need. Try it as is for a couple of weeks, then change what doesn’t fit.
For example: Big tasks keep running long? Try 1-2-3 for a week.
GET THIS SYSTEM
To Do Machine can customize this system for you
To Do Machine has this system built-in, ready for you to customize to work exactly how your brain works.
