To choose your daily priorities, start with actual deadlines and the time left around appointments. Then choose a few specific results you can reasonably aim for. Three essentials puts a limit on the selection; you can choose fewer.
This is not based on evidence that the brain can only handle three tasks. The limit makes choices visible. You still need to consider how much work each item contains.
Why limit the selection?
A general task list keeps many different commitments together. A daily selection answers a narrower question: which of these needs your attention now? Setting a limit means deciding what will wait.
Three is a practical option, rather than a productivity standard. One complicated piece of admin might fill the available time; several short actions might fit into another day. There is no reason to add a third item just to complete the list.
Start with the time and constraints
Note appointments, travel and deadlines that cannot move. Then look at what remains. A phone call you need to make before an office closes has a different constraint from a document with no agreed completion date.
Describe the result in concrete terms. “Send a first draft of the introduction” is easier to assess than “work on my dissertation”.
For example, suppose you have ninety minutes before an appointment. A short call and a first page may fit. Adding “finish the whole application” means reconsidering the plan, even though the list still has only three lines.
Give everything else somewhere you can find it
Items you leave out can go on a list to review later. Keep real deadlines somewhere you will check, and say when a task is waiting for someone else.
If you are unsure whether a commitment can move, check before taking it out of today's plan. A short view is useful only while it remains connected to what you actually need to follow up. The task postponement method covers this decision.
Change the selection when the day changes
An urgent request may replace one of your planned essentials. Decide what has to move, rather than automatically adding another line. Let anyone waiting for the postponed work know.
You may also find that a task is too vague to begin. In that case, identify a first action. Changing the wording will not always be enough: you might need instructions, a document or someone else's decision.
Essentials in Molleva
Choose up to three essentials for Today and keep the rest in Later. You can reorder or postpone them when plans change. These features, including basic small steps, are free.
Low energy mode simplifies the presentation based on your check-in. The Premium One thing view, which hides the other essentials, is a separate option. See the daily view.
Questions about daily priorities
Do routine tasks count?
They take time whether they appear in the selection or not. Include appointments, necessary messages and routine admin when deciding what else can realistically fit.
What if everything is urgent?
Compare the deadlines, consequences and people waiting. If the commitments cannot all fit, ask for help or a decision about priorities. Reordering the list cannot create more time.
Should I choose the night before?
You can make a draft selection the night before and check it on the day. New information or a change in your availability may mean choosing differently.
What happens when I finish my essentials?
Look at the time you have before choosing another action. You could take something from Later or stop there. Finishing the selection does not commit you to filling every space again.