Book SummaryOrganize Tomorrow Today, by Jason Selk, Tom Bartow, and Matthew Rudy

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Organize Tomorrow Today

If you often find yourself overwhelmed by your task list and obligations, Organize Tomorrow Today can help. Along with sports and travel writer Matthew Rudy, authors Jason Selk and Tom Bartow teach you how to increase your productivity, maximize your time, and set yourself on the path to success.

Combining backgrounds in athletics, psychology, and finance, Selk and Bartow have worked for decades as advisors and coaches in both...

Organize Tomorrow Today Summary Increase Your Productivity

In this section, we’ll discuss how Selk, Bartow, and Rudy argue that you can set yourself up for maximum productivity every day. You’ll learn the authors’ strategies for prioritizing tomorrow’s most important tasks and preparing your mind for optimum performance. We’ll also explore their advice for limiting the time you spend on unproductive and unnecessary tasks.

Strategy #1: Write and Prioritize Your To-Do Lists a Day in Advance

Selk, Bartow, and Rudy suggest you take time every day to write a to-do list of the tasks you need to accomplish the next day. Instead of writing a long list of everything you want to get done in the near future, limit tomorrow’s to-do list to the three most important items you need to finish.

(Shortform note: If the idea of limiting your daily to-do list to just three important items doesn’t appeal to you, there are many other ways you can prioritize your to-do list. For example, you can use Brian Tracy’s ABCDE method from Eat That Frog!. Label each item on your to-do list with one of five letters: A for tasks that you...

Organize Tomorrow Today Summary Build Positive Habits

In the last section, you learned Selk, Bartow, and Rudy’s advice for increasing productivity by prioritizing your tasks, preparing your mind for success, and making the most of your time. In this section, you’ll learn how to spend some of the time you save thanks to your newfound productivity on creating and keeping positive habits.

How Habits Work

According to the authors, habits are patterns of behavior that become more or less established in your daily life depending on how often you engage in the behavior. The authors state that if you frequently reinforce a habit through your choices, it’ll get stronger. If you engage in the behavior less frequently, the habit will get weaker.

If a behavior feels good, you’ll want to repeat it, and this repetition forms a habit. As time goes on, your brain incorporates the habit into your regular activity. You end up doing it without thinking, even if it doesn’t ultimately serve you.

For example, maybe you have a busy day at work, and you have to stay late at the office. You were going to cook when you got off work, but you’re too tired, and you decide to get takeout on the way home. Once you have your food, you’re happy—it...

Organize Tomorrow Today Summary Keep Track of Successes and Areas for Improvement

In the previous section, you learned how to improve your life by starting and maintaining positive habits. In this section, we’ll discuss Selk, Bartow, and Rudy’s advice on how to keep track of these improvements, along with potential areas of needed growth. To do this effectively, you’ll learn how to break free from a perfectionist mindset and constructively evaluate your progress every day.

The Dangers of a Perfectionist Mindset

The authors assert that assessing what you’re doing well and what you can improve on is an important step toward success. However, many people do this ineffectively because they assess themselves with a perfectionist mindset. They focus only on their shortcomings and ignore their accomplishments.

(Shortform note: This type of perfectionism doesn’t just affect your ability to succeed at work, as the authors suggest—it can also take a serious toll on your mind and body. Research shows that perfectionism increases the risk of and contributes to physical unhealthiness, depression, eating disorders, and...

Organize Tomorrow Today Summary Communicate Effectively With Yourself and Others

In the previous section, we explored the problematic nature of perfectionism and learned a strategy for daily self-evaluation. In this final section, you’ll learn another of Selk, Bartow, and Rudy’s strategies for breaking free from limiting mindsets: constructive self-communication. We’ll also discuss how to effectively communicate with others, especially when presenting information.

Eliminate Negativity in Conversations With Yourself

The authors assert that one of the biggest determiners of success is the way you speak to yourself. If you consistently talk to and about yourself with negativity, you’ll view yourself negatively. A negative self-image will hamper your ability to perform successfully—you can only perform up to the level you believe you can.

(Shortform note: Many people believe that self-criticism is the best motivator of success because it makes them work harder and better. This is false—self-criticism leads you to hide failure and perceived weakness, preventing you from learning and growing from your mistakes. Furthermore, when you only focus on your...

Shortform Exercise: Apply Organize Tomorrow Today’s Strategies for Success

Selk, Bartow, and Rudy provide many strategies you can use to increase your level of success at work. Consider how you can implement one of these strategies to solve a problem you’re facing right now.

Describe a challenge you’re currently facing that hinders your success at work. (For example, you never have enough time to answer all your emails.)