Productivity isn’t always about doing more. It’s about doing what matters, with clarity, intention, and energy.
- As David Allen reminds us “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”
- And as Daniel Pink teaches “We’re motivated when our work connects to purpose, autonomy, and mastery. A well-planned day is where those worlds meet.”
We often use “busyness” as a shield to avoid the uncomfortable work of choosing. If you want to move from “doing more” to “doing what matters”, try different approaches.
One simple but powerful approach is the 25-5 Method.
The 25/5 Method
This method follows a simple three-step process.
The Brain Dump (List 25 goals/ to do’s)
At the start of your day or week, write down the 25 things you could work on. Big projects, important conversations, strategic thinking, personal commitments. Get them out of your head and onto paper. This clears cognitive clutter and restores mental bandwidth.
The Ruthless Cut (Pick the top 5)
Next, circle the five most important items. These are the tasks that profoundly move the needle. These 5 goals are absolutely essential to your success and happiness. This is the hardest part because you must choose between things you genuinely value.
The “Avoid-at-All-Costs” List
Lastly, treat the remaining 20 as a list you avoid at all costs until the first 5 are completed. The remaining twenty become your “avoid-at-all-costs” list for now. Not because they’re unimportant, but because focus requires tradeoffs.
Excellence demands subtraction.
This method forces clarity. It transforms vague busyness into conscious choice. It gives you autonomy over your time instead of reacting to inboxes, meetings, and interruptions.
In my experience, top performers, “A Players,” and high energy individuals have ideas and to do lists that are longer than can be accomplished anytime soon.
The key is to design your day intentionally.
Start with a Mind Sweep. Capture everything competing for your attention so your mind can relax and engage fully. Clarify the next physical action for each priority so momentum is easy to generate.
Then work in focused sprints. Protect blocks of deep work where distractions are minimized and progress becomes visible. Momentum fuels motivation. Small wins compound into confidence. I like to set an alarm for 30 minutes, focusing on one thing for that amount of time, then take a break. Cleansing your inbox is an easy example.
See how many you can delete or complete in this amount of time. No cheating, dumping them into folders away from sight only defers the email pain.
Align your most important work with your natural energy rhythms. What are your peak periods for productive work? Creative thinking often thrives in the morning. Administrative tasks fit well in lower-energy windows.
Honor your biology instead of fighting it.
Finally, end the day with a brief review. What moved forward? What needs recalibration? This builds a closed-loop system of learning and continuous improvement.
The goal isn’t perfection. It’s presence. When you choose your priorities consciously, execute them with focus, and reflect with curiosity, work becomes more than productivity. It makes progress toward something meaningful.
Plan less to control your day. Plan more to create space for your best thinking, your highest contribution, and the work that truly matters.
2 alternate methods to consider:
- 1-3-5 Rule (Daily/Short-Term): For a more granular approach, limit your plan to 1 big task, 3 medium tasks, and 5 small tasks, which is highly effective for daily productivity.
- Eisenhower Matrix (Urgent vs. Important): Plot items on a 2×2 matrix to prioritize tasks that are urgent/important, while eliminating or delegating tasks that are not. Delegation is an art-form that I find most do poorly at.
Core Principles for Implementation
- Elimination is Key: The most important part of this process is not just selecting the top 5 but actively ignoring the other 20 items to avoid distractions.
- Ruthless Prioritization: Focus on high-impact activities rather than just staying busy.
Before you jump into social media, news, email, texts, cell phone banter, take some time to plan your day, then hit the GO button!