What do I do on a Monday? | The Three Dots

The Monday Problem

Most people start Monday the same way: reactive. They open their laptop, see forty unread emails, and spend the next three hours answering other people's questions. By lunchtime, the week already feels behind. By Friday, they're wondering where the week went.

Monday is not the problem. The absence of a system is.

"A productive Monday is not about doing everything. It is about doing the one thing that makes everything else easier."

The Three Dots

The system I use is simple enough to fit on a single line. Three dots. Three states. Nothing more.

• Not started — the task exists, but hasn't been touched.
• In progress — it's moving, but not finished.
• Done — complete, closed, off the list.

That's it. No priority labels, no colour codes, no five-level urgency scales. Just three dots and the discipline to move them forward.

The power is not in the dots themselves. It's in what they force you to do: decide.

01. Start With One Thing

Before I open email, before I check messages, before I look at anyone else's priorities — I write down the single most important thing I need to move today.

Not three things. Not five. One.

If I finish that one thing and the rest of the day falls apart, the day was still a win. If I finish twenty small things and never touch the one that mattered, the day was a loss — no matter how busy it felt.

02. Add the Supporting Cast

Around that one thing, I add five to seven supporting tasks. Not fifteen. Not a wish list. Five to seven.

The reason is simple: a Monday with fifteen tasks is a plan to fail. Five to seven is a plan to win. If you consistently finish five to seven tasks, you build momentum. If you consistently write fifteen and finish seven, you build guilt.

03. Move the Dots

Through the day, I don't rewrite my list. I move the dots.

A task that was "not started" becomes "in progress." A task that was "in progress" becomes "done." The movement is the progress. The visibility is the motivation.

When you can see your dots moving, you don't need willpower. The system carries you.

04. End the Day Honestly

At the end of Monday, I do two things.

First, I check my mood. Was it a good day, an okay day, or a tough day? Not how productive I was — how I felt. Because how you feel about Monday predicts how you'll show up on Tuesday.

Second, I look at what didn't get done. And here's the rule that changes everything: unfinished tasks don't vanish. They carry forward — deliberately, with a fresh dot and a reason they didn't get done.

If a task has carried forward three times, it's not a task. It's a decision you're avoiding. Either do it, delegate it, or delete it.

Why This Works

The three-dot system works because it removes the two things that destroy productivity: ambiguity and guilt.

Ambiguity: when you don't know what "done" looks like, you never start. The dots force clarity. A task is either not started, in progress, or done. There is no "sort of."

Guilt: when your to-do list is a graveyard of unfinished ambitions, you stop looking at it. The dots force honesty. What didn't get done carries forward with intention — not with shame.

The Monday That Changes Your Week

A Monday that starts with one clear priority, five to seven supporting tasks, and the discipline to move three dots — that Monday doesn't just set up your week. It sets up your year.

Because the pattern repeats. Tuesday is another Monday with different tasks. Wednesday is another Monday with a different mood. The system doesn't care what day it is. It cares that you decided what mattered, moved it forward, and ended the day honest about what remains.

That's what I do on a Monday. Three dots. One priority. And the discipline to let the system carry me when motivation doesn't show up.