Marc Andreessen’s anti to-do list is also good: write down what you just did, and then cross it off. Even if you get off track, this gives you a sense of what you were working on and your progress.

Putting things on a to-do list frees your mind. But always question what is worth doing first. Find your delegation pool—there are always people you can ask for help. Try limiting yourself to no more than eight tasks per quadrant. Before you add another one, complete the most important task first. Remember: It’s not about collecting tasks—it’s abou

In general, strategies that require people to do more work can prove effective for containing tasks. Consider, for example, a more palatable version of my New Yorker suggestion that I call the reverse task list. It works as follows: Create a public task list for each of the major categories of tasks you tackle in your job. You can use a shared docu

The most practical skill you can learn is working smarter. But here's what nobody tells you about working smarter: it often looks like you're working slower.

A programmer might spend 20 hours wrestling with a difficult algorithm, then have an insight in the shower that solves it in 10 lines of code. Those 20 hours weren't wasted—they were necessary