The One and Done Rule
As soon as a new task arises, schedule a time to handle it. Don’t “wait till later” to deal with it.
Have you ever said “I’ll take care of it later” before? Probably, right?
But do you actually do it later? I’m guessing no, and it’s not because you’re lazy either.
These situations happen time and time again because we don’t bother adding them to our to-do lists, we assume that we’ll remember to it later.
This most often occurs with low-level tasks (e.g. get milk, take out the garbage), but if it happens enough then you’ve got a big problem on your hands.
Avoid this by simply adding each new task to a to-do list.
You don’t even need to think about it, just quickly jot it down and you won’t run the risk of forgetting to “take care of it later.”