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785: Make Your Task List Work for You, with Liane Davey
Brief
Making your task list work for you was the focus of Coaching for Leaders episode 785 (host Dave Stachowiak, guest Liane Davey, published 2026-06-01). Dave and Liane open with Liane's central claim from her book Thoughtload: the biggest drag on performance is not sheer workload but 'thoughtload' — the combination of increasing cognitive demands, emotional burdens, and fluctuating energy reserves. They agree that conventional to-do lists exacerbate thoughtload by forcing constant confrontation with a long backlog, undermining attention, presence, and energy.
Liane walks Dave through a practical reframing: manage attention by outcomes (what must change), then outputs (what you can produce), and finally activities. Operationally she recommends three separate lists: List 1 (your 1–3 highest-leverage outcomes/outputs for the role), List 2 (tasks that enable others' critical outcomes), and List 3 (administrative side-quests). She prescribes a ThoughtLoad Planner: put meetings and non-negotiables into your week first to set realistic daily capacity, then triage tasks with four questions — important, urgent, unique (only you can add that value?), and essential (can the work be slimmed to capture 80% of value?).
They dig into the distinct challenges of each list. List 1 is about leverage and protecting focus; List 2 requires confronting FOMO and having productive conflict (Liane shares a cloud-software example where an engineering lead stopped doing marketing work that diluted the team’s unique value); List 3 is where you should accept occasional trade-offs — "complete as many as possible in the allotted time, then beg forgiveness" — not at the cost of List 1 or 2. Liane also emphasizes the need for downtime: her 'Do More Nothing' chapter (bread/yeast analogy) argues that insight comes from exposing a full 'brain pantry' to air, not continuous production. Finally, Liane recounts changing her view on an open-door policy — leaders must protect their own focus to model prioritization. Dave and Liane align throughout on practical steps: limit daily big-ticket items to avoid thoughtload, align with your manager on priorities, and prioritize presence over constant activity.
Why it matters
Liane Davey (guest) defines 'thoughtload' as an invisible tax made of a treacherous triad: rising cognitive demands, emotional burdens, and variable energy reserves (Dave Stachowiak, host, introduced concept) — a core idea in her book Thoughtload (guest: Liane Davey).
Key details
- Replace a single laundry-list to-do approach with three distinct lists (Liane Davey): List 1 — the 1–3 high-leverage items that drive outcomes for your role; List 2 — work where you contribute to others' important outcomes; List 3 — administrative/side-quests (invoices, compliance) to deprioritize if necessary.
- Use a ThoughtLoad Planner (Liane Davey) — first enter non-negotiables (meetings, travel) to limit realistic daily capacity, then triage tasks with four questions: Is it important? Is it urgent? Is it uniquely your work? How essential (can it be reduced to 20% for 80% value)?
- Prioritize outcomes over outputs over activities (Liane Davey): manage attention by what outcome you must produce (impact) rather than by activity volume; doing many activities (e.g., inbox-zero) doesn't guarantee meaningful results (host Dave Stachowiak agreed).
- Do More Nothing: Liane uses a bread analogy (Michael Pollan) to argue for deliberate downtime after input-heavy work so insights can 'percolate' — preserving presence and creativity rather than always producing.
- List 2 requires productive conflict and confronting FOMO (Liane Davey): leaders should evaluate value vs unique value (example: engineering leader refusing marketing-related work to protect core product focus), and align with your manager on priorities.