There was a period not long after I started using this system when my career score dipped significantly. I found myself ending days with scores well below the .750 mark. And I wasn’t sure what more I could do to get back to getting better scores.
But then I began to observe how I began my day, once I had finished filling out my card. I realized very quickly what the problem was: I wasn’t recognizing that I have two selves, and they each have their proper role to play each day. If they play those roles well, I have a much better chance of getting a good score. If not, I don’t.
We all have these two selves, and making sure they each perform their duties is critical to scoring well, and moving the needle on what’s important to you.
Your Two Selves
One part of you is the one who fills out the card. That’s the decider, the leader, the visionary. It’s the one that takes a hard look at your values and priorities, as well as all the work you have on your plate, and says yes to a few things today, but no to everything else.
The other part of you is the doer. It’s the one responsible for taking the decider’s decisions and making them into results. It’s the part of you that has to find ways to move around obstacles, ward off distractions, and push for the best score possible. It’s the doer’s job to turn the decider’s vision into reality. When it comes to the Today Card, the doer’s job boils down to getting that 1.000 score—or getting as close to it as possible.
Know Your Roles
The decider decide, but doesn’t do. The doer does, but doesn’t decide.
If you take this separation seriously, you can avoid a major hurdle to getting things done each day: second-guessing your list. It’s what kept me getting week after week of low scores, and what knocked my overall score down significantly.
It works like this: You fill out your card, assign your points, and then quickly get swept up in things that aren’t on the card—or have low point values. Ideally, once you’re done filling out your card, you should get cracking on higher value items pretty quickly after that. It’s fine to check a few emails or something for a bit. But if you begin doing other things, and not looking back to your card for the high value items to work on, you’re second-guessing your decider. Your’e making new decisions about what’s important to do. The doer has begun deciding. And that’s a problem.
Your doer self—the one who takes the completed card and gets to work on it—needs to just start working on the high point value items. But that only happens when it trusts that the decider has done their job, and assigned the point values correctly. If the doer has a suspicion that those high-value items are not actually worth most of your attention, they won’t be motivated to do them. Trust in the decider and their vision is broken. And the day will likely end with you frustrated at a low score.
Clarity, Trust, and Obedience
For everyone to play their roles properly, you need three things: clarity, trust, and obedience. The leader part of you—the one who fills out the card—needs to have clarity on what should go on the card, and in what order. They need to put the time and effort into that set of decisions.
The doer needs to have trust and obedience. They need to just obey the order to get the most points possible today. And in order to do that, they need to trust that the point values and tasks are right—that they match up with your values and goals. It sounds so simple, but you would be surprised how often our doer self simply doesn’t trust our decider self.
So those are your two goals as you fill out your card each day. Be a good decider, then be an obedient doer. It’s that simple. Easy? No. But most definitely simple.