# Ep. 272 — the Essential Tools
URL:: https://share.snipd.com/episode/210ba3e3-76b4-430b-a3df-2990d2aa8088
Author:: Deep Questions with Cal Newport
## Highlights
> Episode AI notes
> 1. Having a calendar is essential for being organized. It helps manage time and reduces stress.
> 2. An obligation status list captures the things that should be done and committed to. It is different from a task list as not everything on the list is an actual task yet.
> 3. Multi-scale planning is important. Quarterly, weekly, and daily plans are needed for effective organization and prioritization of tasks.
> 4. A core systems document is a useful tool for organizing and implementing systems in one's life. Writing down one's systems helps solidify them and prevents the mind from interpreting them as fluid.
> 5. Neglecting any of the four key tools - calendar, obligation status list, control, and awareness of time - can lead to heightened stress and lack of productivity.
> 6. Generalism needs to be coupled with structure to be successful. Having a structure helps capture feedback about what's working and what's not.
> 7. Start with the simplest possible implementation and let frustrations with the current implementation drive you to a new one. Avoid getting stuck in unnecessary details and excessive tinkering.
> 8. A good shutdown ritual helps clear the brain and prevent burnout. It's an underrated productivity strategy.
> 9. Saying no is not just about rejecting things you don't want to do; it's also about declining things you do want to do. It's necessary to say no to things you do want to do.
> 10. Most of the value of mentoring is derived from implicit knowledge. Remote mentoring may pose challenges in transmitting implicit knowledge. ([Time 0:00:00](https://share.snipd.com/episode-takeaways/bad00e95-e91d-450f-b30b-0b5cd8c6472c))
> Necessity of calendar
> Summary:
> Having a calendar is essential for being organized.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> Let's roll four tools, I think are essential for being organized. Number one, this is not exciting, but it is absolutely necessary. Your calendar. ([Time 0:03:31](https://share.snipd.com/snip/f9e4b1c8-3e9a-4994-a6db-dea7bc45a5d9))
> Tool 2: obligation list (projects)
> Summary:
> An obligation status list captures commitments and things that should be done, not limited to specific tasks. It differs from a task list by including items that are not yet actionable projects.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> Tool number two out of the four, an obligation slash status list. I'm purposefully being careful with my language here. Typically, you would say for this thing I'm describing, you would say, oh, yes, you're talking about a task list or a to-do list, but I don't want to use that terminology. I want to be more specific about this. When I say an obligation status list, I'm capturing two things. One, what are the things that should be on this list? I'm going to say obligations. Anything that you have committed to do, you want that written down somewhere where you don't have to keep it in your head. Now why is this different than a task list? Not everything that is on your list of commitments is an actual task yet or something that's just waiting for you to execute. ([Time 0:06:30](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3ea2040e-27a1-475b-a25f-eaaea2e68006))
> Tool 3. Multi-scale planning documents
> Summary:
> Multi-scale planning involves creating plans for the quarter, week, and day to effectively organize and prioritize tasks.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> Tool number three, multi-scale planning documents. Long time listeners of the show know that I'm a big advocate of multi-scale planning. What is my plan for the quarter? What is my plan for the week? What is my plan for today? ([Time 0:10:34](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3c33de43-5c9e-4122-8f33-42005198fee8))
> Tool 4. Core systems document detailling how you get things done
> Summary:
> Having a core systems document is crucial for implementing and maintaining the actual systems to organize life. This document serves as a reminder of the specific systems being followed, preventing the mind from interpreting them as fluid. It is recommended to include multi-scale planning, obligation status lists, and other essential systems within this document.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> Our fourth and final tool here, a core systems document. This is psychology hacking at this point. Have a piece of paper somewhere where you write down. These are the actual systems I'm implementing. We talked about having multi-scale planning documents, but somewhere you want to write down, I do multi-scale planning. You might have a really good obligation status list, but somewhere you want to write down, I keep an obligation status list that I look at each day when I make my daily plan and I look at It at the end of the day before I shut down. Somewhere have written down. These are the actual systems I follow to organize my life. The reason why this is important is because otherwise your mind interprets these as fluid. ([Time 0:12:32](https://share.snipd.com/snip/0a28f22c-cd94-471c-a6bf-0f661742e265))
> Why you need all four to keep track of things
> Summary:
> Neglecting any of these four things – calendar, obligation status list, control, and awareness of time – can lead to heightened stress and lack of productivity. Having a calendar helps manage time and reduces stress. Maintaining an obligation status list prevents the burden of trying to remember everything in one's head. According to 'Getting Things Done', not having these four elements can result in excessive stress and difficulty in managing tasks.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> I do think this is in some sense a complete set. The complete set is that if you neglect one of these four things, you will probably feel the effects of that. If you don't have a calendar in your life, there's a lot of stress that comes from that. There's a lot of lack of control or awareness of your time that comes with that. If you have no obligation status list, you're going to be trying to keep track of things in your head. It's very stressful. Go read David Allen. That whole book is a psychology book. People say it's a productivity book. Getting things done is a psychology book. It's about reducing the stress of having too many things to do. If you're missing one of these four, you're going to see a problem. ([Time 0:16:08](https://share.snipd.com/snip/15de8e8e-103a-4100-aa5d-4cff8bdf2773))
> Success of Generalism and the Importance of Structured Feedback
> Summary:
> The success of generalism lies in its coupling with structure to avoid becoming an excuse for aimless pursuit. Structured feedback is crucial to capture what's working and what's not, allowing for evolutionary improvement in systems and methods.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> If we're thinking about generalist, which your book talks about the advantage of that approach, what makes generalism, if I can invent a term successful, is it has to be coupled to structure. Otherwise, it could just become, I'm sure people use it as an excuse for, like, let me just bounce to what's interesting to me.
> Speaker 2
> That's right.
> Speaker 1
> And if you don't have a structure to actually capture the feedback, what's working, what's not working, you know, in my old days when I would do student advice, used to have this phrase We would use, which was study like Darwin. And it particularly just looking at studying, we would say, like, the number one thing you can do for getting a particular system is after you try a way for studying for a test, after you Try a particular method for writing a paper, et cetera, go back and say, how did this work? Did this work well? Could something work better? And I guess I used to work Darwin because you could evolve. ([Time 0:20:27](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5e4e00fc-3b39-44af-9ceb-3f46648c5d9b))
> How to avoid the vortex of fiddling
> Summary:
> Start with the simplest possible implementation and let your frustrations with the current implementation drive you to a new implementation. Avoid working backwards from the most fully featured advanced possible implementation, as this may lead you to fall into the vortex of fiddling. Instead, start with the simplest possible thing and let particular frustrations drive you to new tools because those tools specifically solve those problems, making it more likely to have a workable system and less likely to fall into the fiddling vortex.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> Start with the simplest possible implementation and make your frustrations with the current implementation be what drive you to a new implementation. So don't work backwards from what is the most fully featured advanced possible implementation because you're going to fall into the vortex of fiddly. Yeah. Yeah. This and if I just do this, it's going to haunt me, whatever. Start with paper. I don't care. Start with the simplest possible thing. And then when you get to a scale of ideas and use, you're like, you know what? Here's my main problem is that like I have to print it or this or that. All right. So let me just switch from this to like almost doing this, but with PDFs and okay now, you know, it'd be really nice if I could tag it. Well, let me just go from this to something that just lets me. So start as simple as possible and let particular frustrations drive you to new tools because those tools specifically solve those problems.
> Speaker 2
> You're much more likely to have a workable system and much more likely less likely to fall into the fiddling vortex. ([Time 0:27:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/9dad8879-6bcd-4805-9372-8c26dcd59cef))
> The Importance of a Shutdown Ritual for Productivity
> Summary:
> Having a good shutdown ritual is an underrated productivity strategy. It doesn't directly help with work organization or execution, but it clears the brain's mechanism at the end of the workday, preventing burnout and allowing for rest and recharge. This approach enables a fresh start the next day and reduces persistent stress outside of work.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> I'm going to say shutdown ritual. Right? Good one. I'm going to say it's a contract. Because a shutdown ritual doesn't, in the moment, help you organize or execute work. But it does help you clear the mechanism of your brain when your workday is done so that it can actually rest and recharge so that you're not burnt out. And so you can re-attack your work the next day with freshness. But more importantly, also not have to have this insistent background drip of stress in your time outside of work. So I'm going to the contrarian twist. I'm going to throw having a good shutdown routine as a very un- What are they called? Underrated productivity strategy. ([Time 0:36:24](https://share.snipd.com/snip/992503d5-2635-49d8-ab09-e67cc967b6dd))
> Saying No: Not Just for Things You Don't Want to Do
> Summary:
> Saying no is not just about rejecting things you don't want to do; it's also about declining things you do want to do. Often, people are encouraged to say no more frequently, but this advice tends to focus on declining unappealing tasks. However, it's equally important to learn to say no to desirable activities when necessary.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 2
> I think I'm going to go with one that people I think have really heard of but don't actually do is saying no to things that you want to do. Like it's very easy. Everyone here is like, you have to say no to more. It's almost like fetishized. Yeah. You have to say no to stuff. Yeah. But I think people primarily say no to stuff that they don't really want to do anyway. Easy. No to some things that you do want to do. ([Time 0:37:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a65dd1cb-2588-4d05-9882-ff1f6eb1effa))
> The Value of Implicit Knowledge in Mentoring
> Summary:
> Research suggests that the value of mentoring lies in the implicit knowledge gained through observation and being around the mentor, rather than explicit advice or guidance given by the mentor. This finding raises concerns about the effectiveness of remote mentoring.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 2
> That really jives to, I think, what you're saying with research done, I think is by Brian Uzi at Northwestern, some of his colleagues about mentoring, where basically their conclusion Was that most of the value of mentoring was implicit knowledge, like not the things that the mentor is telling the mentee, the mentee being able to just like observe. So being around the mentor, actually doing what they do. So again, which I think is a little concerning for like the remote. ([Time 1:11:19](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d3f6ed31-f67d-45ab-9929-ec7c146b278c))
---
Title: Ep. 272 — the Essential Tools
Author: Deep Questions with Cal Newport
Tags: readwise, podcasts
date: 2024-01-30
---
# Ep. 272 — the Essential Tools
URL:: https://share.snipd.com/episode/210ba3e3-76b4-430b-a3df-2990d2aa8088
Author:: Deep Questions with Cal Newport
## AI-Generated Summary
None
## Highlights
> Episode AI notes
> 1. Having a calendar is essential for being organized. It helps manage time and reduces stress.
> 2. An obligation status list captures the things that should be done and committed to. It is different from a task list as not everything on the list is an actual task yet.
> 3. Multi-scale planning is important. Quarterly, weekly, and daily plans are needed for effective organization and prioritization of tasks.
> 4. A core systems document is a useful tool for organizing and implementing systems in one's life. Writing down one's systems helps solidify them and prevents the mind from interpreting them as fluid.
> 5. Neglecting any of the four key tools - calendar, obligation status list, control, and awareness of time - can lead to heightened stress and lack of productivity.
> 6. Generalism needs to be coupled with structure to be successful. Having a structure helps capture feedback about what's working and what's not.
> 7. Start with the simplest possible implementation and let frustrations with the current implementation drive you to a new one. Avoid getting stuck in unnecessary details and excessive tinkering.
> 8. A good shutdown ritual helps clear the brain and prevent burnout. It's an underrated productivity strategy.
> 9. Saying no is not just about rejecting things you don't want to do; it's also about declining things you do want to do. It's necessary to say no to things you do want to do.
> 10. Most of the value of mentoring is derived from implicit knowledge. Remote mentoring may pose challenges in transmitting implicit knowledge. ([Time 0:00:00](https://share.snipd.com/episode-takeaways/bad00e95-e91d-450f-b30b-0b5cd8c6472c))
> Necessity of calendar
> Summary:
> Having a calendar is essential for being organized.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> Let's roll four tools, I think are essential for being organized. Number one, this is not exciting, but it is absolutely necessary. Your calendar. ([Time 0:03:31](https://share.snipd.com/snip/f9e4b1c8-3e9a-4994-a6db-dea7bc45a5d9))
> Tool 2: obligation list (projects)
> Summary:
> An obligation status list captures commitments and things that should be done, not limited to specific tasks. It differs from a task list by including items that are not yet actionable projects.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> Tool number two out of the four, an obligation slash status list. I'm purposefully being careful with my language here. Typically, you would say for this thing I'm describing, you would say, oh, yes, you're talking about a task list or a to-do list, but I don't want to use that terminology. I want to be more specific about this. When I say an obligation status list, I'm capturing two things. One, what are the things that should be on this list? I'm going to say obligations. Anything that you have committed to do, you want that written down somewhere where you don't have to keep it in your head. Now why is this different than a task list? Not everything that is on your list of commitments is an actual task yet or something that's just waiting for you to execute. ([Time 0:06:30](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3ea2040e-27a1-475b-a25f-eaaea2e68006))
> Tool 3. Multi-scale planning documents
> Summary:
> Multi-scale planning involves creating plans for the quarter, week, and day to effectively organize and prioritize tasks.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> Tool number three, multi-scale planning documents. Long time listeners of the show know that I'm a big advocate of multi-scale planning. What is my plan for the quarter? What is my plan for the week? What is my plan for today? ([Time 0:10:34](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3c33de43-5c9e-4122-8f33-42005198fee8))
> Tool 4. Core systems document detailling how you get things done
> Summary:
> Having a core systems document is crucial for implementing and maintaining the actual systems to organize life. This document serves as a reminder of the specific systems being followed, preventing the mind from interpreting them as fluid. It is recommended to include multi-scale planning, obligation status lists, and other essential systems within this document.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> Our fourth and final tool here, a core systems document. This is psychology hacking at this point. Have a piece of paper somewhere where you write down. These are the actual systems I'm implementing. We talked about having multi-scale planning documents, but somewhere you want to write down, I do multi-scale planning. You might have a really good obligation status list, but somewhere you want to write down, I keep an obligation status list that I look at each day when I make my daily plan and I look at It at the end of the day before I shut down. Somewhere have written down. These are the actual systems I follow to organize my life. The reason why this is important is because otherwise your mind interprets these as fluid. ([Time 0:12:32](https://share.snipd.com/snip/0a28f22c-cd94-471c-a6bf-0f661742e265))
> Why you need all four to keep track of things
> Summary:
> Neglecting any of these four things – calendar, obligation status list, control, and awareness of time – can lead to heightened stress and lack of productivity. Having a calendar helps manage time and reduces stress. Maintaining an obligation status list prevents the burden of trying to remember everything in one's head. According to 'Getting Things Done', not having these four elements can result in excessive stress and difficulty in managing tasks.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> I do think this is in some sense a complete set. The complete set is that if you neglect one of these four things, you will probably feel the effects of that. If you don't have a calendar in your life, there's a lot of stress that comes from that. There's a lot of lack of control or awareness of your time that comes with that. If you have no obligation status list, you're going to be trying to keep track of things in your head. It's very stressful. Go read David Allen. That whole book is a psychology book. People say it's a productivity book. Getting things done is a psychology book. It's about reducing the stress of having too many things to do. If you're missing one of these four, you're going to see a problem. ([Time 0:16:08](https://share.snipd.com/snip/15de8e8e-103a-4100-aa5d-4cff8bdf2773))
> Success of Generalism and the Importance of Structured Feedback
> Summary:
> The success of generalism lies in its coupling with structure to avoid becoming an excuse for aimless pursuit. Structured feedback is crucial to capture what's working and what's not, allowing for evolutionary improvement in systems and methods.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> If we're thinking about generalist, which your book talks about the advantage of that approach, what makes generalism, if I can invent a term successful, is it has to be coupled to structure. Otherwise, it could just become, I'm sure people use it as an excuse for, like, let me just bounce to what's interesting to me.
> Speaker 2
> That's right.
> Speaker 1
> And if you don't have a structure to actually capture the feedback, what's working, what's not working, you know, in my old days when I would do student advice, used to have this phrase We would use, which was study like Darwin. And it particularly just looking at studying, we would say, like, the number one thing you can do for getting a particular system is after you try a way for studying for a test, after you Try a particular method for writing a paper, et cetera, go back and say, how did this work? Did this work well? Could something work better? And I guess I used to work Darwin because you could evolve. ([Time 0:20:27](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5e4e00fc-3b39-44af-9ceb-3f46648c5d9b))
> How to avoid the vortex of fiddling
> Summary:
> Start with the simplest possible implementation and let your frustrations with the current implementation drive you to a new implementation. Avoid working backwards from the most fully featured advanced possible implementation, as this may lead you to fall into the vortex of fiddling. Instead, start with the simplest possible thing and let particular frustrations drive you to new tools because those tools specifically solve those problems, making it more likely to have a workable system and less likely to fall into the fiddling vortex.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> Start with the simplest possible implementation and make your frustrations with the current implementation be what drive you to a new implementation. So don't work backwards from what is the most fully featured advanced possible implementation because you're going to fall into the vortex of fiddly. Yeah. Yeah. This and if I just do this, it's going to haunt me, whatever. Start with paper. I don't care. Start with the simplest possible thing. And then when you get to a scale of ideas and use, you're like, you know what? Here's my main problem is that like I have to print it or this or that. All right. So let me just switch from this to like almost doing this, but with PDFs and okay now, you know, it'd be really nice if I could tag it. Well, let me just go from this to something that just lets me. So start as simple as possible and let particular frustrations drive you to new tools because those tools specifically solve those problems.
> Speaker 2
> You're much more likely to have a workable system and much more likely less likely to fall into the fiddling vortex. ([Time 0:27:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/9dad8879-6bcd-4805-9372-8c26dcd59cef))
> The Importance of a Shutdown Ritual for Productivity
> Summary:
> Having a good shutdown ritual is an underrated productivity strategy. It doesn't directly help with work organization or execution, but it clears the brain's mechanism at the end of the workday, preventing burnout and allowing for rest and recharge. This approach enables a fresh start the next day and reduces persistent stress outside of work.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 1
> I'm going to say shutdown ritual. Right? Good one. I'm going to say it's a contract. Because a shutdown ritual doesn't, in the moment, help you organize or execute work. But it does help you clear the mechanism of your brain when your workday is done so that it can actually rest and recharge so that you're not burnt out. And so you can re-attack your work the next day with freshness. But more importantly, also not have to have this insistent background drip of stress in your time outside of work. So I'm going to the contrarian twist. I'm going to throw having a good shutdown routine as a very un- What are they called? Underrated productivity strategy. ([Time 0:36:24](https://share.snipd.com/snip/992503d5-2635-49d8-ab09-e67cc967b6dd))
> Saying No: Not Just for Things You Don't Want to Do
> Summary:
> Saying no is not just about rejecting things you don't want to do; it's also about declining things you do want to do. Often, people are encouraged to say no more frequently, but this advice tends to focus on declining unappealing tasks. However, it's equally important to learn to say no to desirable activities when necessary.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 2
> I think I'm going to go with one that people I think have really heard of but don't actually do is saying no to things that you want to do. Like it's very easy. Everyone here is like, you have to say no to more. It's almost like fetishized. Yeah. You have to say no to stuff. Yeah. But I think people primarily say no to stuff that they don't really want to do anyway. Easy. No to some things that you do want to do. ([Time 0:37:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a65dd1cb-2588-4d05-9882-ff1f6eb1effa))
> The Value of Implicit Knowledge in Mentoring
> Summary:
> Research suggests that the value of mentoring lies in the implicit knowledge gained through observation and being around the mentor, rather than explicit advice or guidance given by the mentor. This finding raises concerns about the effectiveness of remote mentoring.
> Transcript:
> Speaker 2
> That really jives to, I think, what you're saying with research done, I think is by Brian Uzi at Northwestern, some of his colleagues about mentoring, where basically their conclusion Was that most of the value of mentoring was implicit knowledge, like not the things that the mentor is telling the mentee, the mentee being able to just like observe. So being around the mentor, actually doing what they do. So again, which I think is a little concerning for like the remote. ([Time 1:11:19](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d3f6ed31-f67d-45ab-9929-ec7c146b278c))