Unbillable

5 February 2026

Productivity hacks fail without this foundation

Read time: 3:40 minutes

LinkedIn productivity experts love to tell you to-do lists are dead.

"Here’s why to-do lists suck"
"To-do lists kill your productivity"

Scroll-stopping hooks for sure.

But here's what bothers me:

I doubt any of them ever juggled multiple urgent files at once as a lawyer.

I did. For 7 years.

And my to-do list saved me many times.

My simple, boring to-do list.

I could see what’s coming in the next weeks.
I could decide on what’s important for the day.
I could re-prioritize after an 11 a.m. client emergency.
I could apply for a deadline extension in time.
I could see and celebrate what I’d finished.

And I could switch off, feeling everything was under control.

My clients say the same when we upgrade their to-do list:

Less stress.
Reduced mental load.
More productive days.

So when I see these takes?

Dead wrong.

Both LinkedIn posts above recommend Nir Eyal’s "timeboxing".

You put everything you want to do in a workday on your calendar:

• Collaborative work (meetings, email)
• Focus work (on your daily goals)
• Defocus (lunch, breaks)

Just show up for the appointment with yourself.
Do what you planned to do.
Focus on the input, not on the output.

Great technique.

But useless without a proper to-do list.

It's not about one or the other.
It's about one and the other.

Want to do "timeboxing"?

Build your to-do list first.

So you have a solid foundation.
A necessary one.

Because it all starts with one decision: what do you put on your calendar.

Without a to-do list, you hit a wall.

Meetings, email, breaks—fine.

But where do you pull your daily goals from, {%firstname}?

Thin air?
A mental note?
Or your good old to-do list?

It’s obvious.

As a young lawyer, I thought I could pull it off without a to-do list.

(Spoiler: I failed.)

The idea is charming:

No extra admin work.
No pressure from an ever-growing list you’ll never finish.
You just rely on Wiedervorlagen (follow-ups) and Vorfristen (pre-deadlines).

(For the non-lawyers: Every time you work on a file, you note the date when you need it back on your desk. For example: 2 weeks before the deadline so you can draft the brief and the client can approve it.)

You always get the file back on your desk in time.

But this doesn't help if it's 3 big files at once.
On top of the emergency you're working on.

You can just react to your day.
Instead of planning it.

I realized I needed my to-do list back (I always had one since university).

So I built a simple system.

A Word document with a table:

• File number
• Name of the parties for easy reference
• Short description of what to do (e.g. Klageerwiderung).
• VF (Vorfrist = pre-deadline)
• RF (Rotfrist = deadline)

(A lawyer doing lawyer things… Why not use Excel?)

I checked it every day.
I updated it every day.
I knew everything important was in this master document.

What a relief.

My clients experience the same.

Some relied on mental notes.
Others kept a high-level list without any details.
A few jotted everything down in a private Teams chat.

They delivered excellent work.
But it was exhausting.

When we upgraded their system, the relief was immediate.

A proper to-do list made their lives so much easier.

So what should a to-do list look like?

Have everything in one place to reduce mental load.

The rest depends on yourreality.

There's no right or wrong.

Only what makes your life easier.
And what doesn't.

You want the sweet spot between too simple and over-engineered.

My own to-do list has evolved over the years.

Here's my current system:

I use a Kanban board in Notion with 5 columns:

• Backlog (every new task or idea I can't finish immediately in under 2 minutes)
• Week (pull what's important for the week)
• Day (pull my top 3–5 for the day)
• In Progress (what I sent out and am waiting on—I always add a reminder, Wiedervorlagen style)
• Done (everyone's favourite)

Easy to move tasks:

From column to column.
Up or down to prioritize.

The tasks are specific and granular:

"Write content" -> "1st draft Newsletter + 2x LinkedIn"
"Client outreach" -> "DM X, Y, and Z on LinkedIn"
"Work on website" -> "Adapt newsletter page to new design"

Many clients love the Kanban format (it works in Excel, too).

Your to-do list can look completely different.

Different medium (think pen and paper).
Different software.
Different layout.

Find your sweet spot.

So before you try timeboxing or any other productivity hack, ask yourself:

Do I still lovemy to-do list?

If not, upgrade it first.
Build your foundation.

Then timeboxing and other techniques actually work.

I'm curious: what does your ideal to-do list look like, {%firstname}?

Drop me a line if you like. I reply to every email.

To your foundation,

Jan

P.S.

"But Jan, why plan my day if a client emergency can happen anytime?"

Fair question.

Here's the thing: you come prepared. When chaos hits, you can re-prioritize fast.

You know what's on your plate. You know what can wait. You know what you can delegate. You know what needs a deadline extension.

Without a to-do list? You're scrambling in the dark.

The plan isn't rigid. It's your guard rails that keep you on track when everything goes sideways.

Know a lawyer who could use a stronger foundation? Share this.

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