Commitment inventory: aligning your priorities
This tool can help you ensure that all essential tasks and commitments receive enough attention, that some areas don’t take up all your time, and reduce your number of obligations.
This week, I am sharing the commitment inventory system from Mark Forster's book Get Everything Done—and Still Have Time to Play.
It's the method that got less airtime than other techniques.
You might have heard of it, or you might not. Either way, its core concept would perfectly accompany and follow up on last week's post on Doing less. And you might find it as helpful as I did.
“We cannot manage time — but we can learn to manage how we direct our attention” — Mark Forster.
The idea of this system is to focus and manage your attention rather than attempt to focus and manage your time. However, if you try to manage those 24 hours each day, they will pass.
The idea is that each day, you are bombarded by possibilities grabbing your attention. Which one you choose determines the course of your day, the results you create, and the bigger picture—the life you experience. Before you pursue any task or activity, consider whether it is worth your time.
“Remember: every time you take on a new commitment, you have to stop doing something you are doing at the moment.” — Mark Forster
At this stage, you will need to get really crafty with the word NO. Forster refers to it as the most fundamental time-management tool. As
correctly concluded, every “yes” means a “no” to something else, providing five tips for saying no—gracefully.Forster explains the relationship between time and attention like this: Whenever you let something into your life, it demands your attention. Time itself isn't the problem. It's actually how we choose to spend our time that is both the problem and the solution. It's a problem because we need to decide what to pay attention to, but it's also the solution because we can solve the problem by giving it enough attention.
Another way to solve the problem with time and attention: as soon as a new opportunity or commitment turns up at your doorstep, pause, and before you gracefully accept or reject the offer, ask yourself:
How much is an hour of my attention worth to me?
Forster’s calculation:
If you are earning £30000 a year, divide the 30 by two, and that gives you a figure of roughly £15 an hour. If they consider your attention to be worth that amount then you should be putting at least that value on it1.
Further calculations:
If you want to earn £100000 a year, then your attention is worth %£50 an hour to you. It is valuable —- do not waste it. Put a value on your attention — its value to you. And cost out the activities you are deploying your attention on2.
Forster suggests that you should ask yourself whether you are getting value out of the tasks you are dedicating your time to.
What it does mean is that we all have to go through a process of choosing what to give our attention to and what not to give our attention to.
Before committing to a new activity, ask yourself what you're doing that has less value than the new activity.
You might find Forster's Commitment inventory helpful if you:
Are stretched too thin, and your attention is pulled in many different directions
Have a daily to-do list which is often not aligned with your more significant priorities
Struggle with managing your time, yet you have a hard time saying no to new projects and commitments
Want to be more focused and intentional in what you take on
Are always behind with your work
Have a mass of projects you will get round to 'some time'
Have so much to do you don't know where to start
Are in a state of constant rush
Don't allow proper time for yourself and your family
Feel you are stretched thinner and thinner over more and more things
Faff around so much during the day that you frequently find yourself working late or bringing work home
Seem to live your life from one crisis to another
Or if
The more time you have available, the less you get done
There are things you have neglected to do that keep you awake at night
The commitment inventory can be useful to you from three angles:
You want to ensure that all important tasks and commitments get enough attention
You want to ensure that some areas don’t swallow all your attention.
You want to reduce your number of commitments.
The author suggests that the most fundamental time-management tool is the word ‘NO’. Let this be true for you as you’re completing your own Commitment inventory.
Here are six easy steps you need to follow:
1 | Create a list of all your commitments (that is, everything you spend time on)
Map out all the commitments and tasks you currently spend time on.
2 | Categorise all your commitments and calculate a percentage for each
Each commitment and task will have a theme.
Let me give you some ideas to get you started: home, family, work, leisure, exercise, friends, personal development, hobby, big dreams (goals), and personal downtime (your time).
List your categories, then start boxing your commitments and tasks into these.
You can use old-fashioned paper, spreadsheets or reminders on your iPhone (like me).
3 | Reduce your list of commitments based on your priorities.
Review your categorised commitments list and clarify your priorities.
What matters the most?
What is an absolute MUST on your list?
4 | Organise your schedule around your categories and their percentage.
How much time do you have available for each category and task?
I find that it’s easier for me to first add a percentage based on what I would like to invest into each category and commitment.
Then, I get honest with myself and how much time I have daily and add a more ‘realistic’ percentage.
5 | Break big tasks down into smaller chunks — subgoals in the format of checklists
Why checklists? You might ask.
No one ever said we should be productive all the time.
Sometimes, you just don’t feel like showing up for your commitments, but you already know that, don’t you?
So, a checklist is the simplest way to keep yourself motivated. As you tick off the list, you get a little burst of dopamine, and as a result, you will feel better about yourself and the progress you’re making3.
6 | Work in time ‘bursts’ aligned with your categories.
You've done well getting to step six, but you might encounter a couple of roadblocks on the way.
One is the roadblock of procrastination; the second is resistance. There are days when it's easier to turn Netflix on than conduct research, and I learned not to feel bad about it, and so should you.
On my productive days, I fly high and fast, and having a good quality downtime away from work is natural.
To jump over the roadblocks repeatedly, I use self-compassion (and allow myself to give in Netflix occasionally) and two well-known techniques that help me work in time 'burst'.
The Pomodoro technique involves working in 25-minute intervals followed by a 5-minute break. Before you decide, check in with yourself: How long can you maintain focus and attention on the specific task at hand? This could be one 'pomodori' of 25 minutes or 50 minutes at a time. You decide what works.
Timeboxing - you will allocate a specific amount of minutes to each task.
What I prefer most about this tool is its flexibility. You can adjust it and use it depending on what you want to get out of it.
Do you need to create a better and healthier balance between many essential areas of your life? This tool can help you strategically allocate time to progress on each area so you feel you're paying attention to all areas. It helps you avoid neglecting the essentials. Is there a particular area that feels way off balance and uses too much of your time? Or is there too much on your plate, and it's time to reduce the number of commitments?
That is this week's task for you. I am including the Commitment inventory tool created on Google Docs. Feel free to use it. Click on the link below, create a copy of the document, and you're good to go.
Remember that your priorities change over time. Review your commitment list and categories every so often.
“The busyness is often an escape from dealing with more important and challenging matters.” — Mark Forster
Until next week,
Jana
When I first began my productivity journey, I wanted to do it all. I had a list of things I needed to get done in the one day, from exercise, to work and hobbies. Did I improve in any of these fields? No, because I was doing too little of too much, and not much of little things. It was not until I prioritized, did I see improvements. Prioritizing is a must to seeking improvements, thank you for the wonderful read :)
Hey Jana,
serendipitous timing to mention Forster. I just released a post about his "Do It Tomorrow" productivity system: https://fractalproductivity.substack.com/p/do-it-tomorrow
Thx for mentioning his other works. I guess that now I have to delve them, too!
Best,
Dennis