Hello Reader,

I've been running workshops that offer up "quick wins" lately — for my TimeCrafting Trust community and for an organization I've been working with. The premise is simple: when time is short and the pressure is on, what do you actually do first?

People come in thinking the answer is prioritization. Or focus. Or some system they haven't tried yet.

And those things matter. But there's something that comes before all of them.

When you're moving fast, shortcuts happen. You abbreviate. You assume. You trust that you'll remember what you meant when you wrote it down. And most of the time, that works — until it doesn't.

There's one thing I've seen people cut that they can't afford to. The verb.

Not the task. The verb inside the task.

Here's why it matters more than most people realize.

You can see your patterns.

When every item on your list starts with a verb — write, call, review, send, decide — you start to notice something. Clusters form. You've got six things that are really just writing tasks. Four that are waiting on someone else. Three that are actually thinking tasks disguised as doing tasks. The verb surfaces the pattern that the noun hides.

You can see your actual workload.

A list of nouns feels manageable. A list of verbs tells the truth. When you can see what you're actually being asked to do — not just what you're tracking — you get an honest read on your energy, your capacity, and what's realistic. The verb makes the invisible visible.

You can actually act.

This is where things fall apart without it. "Report" on a list does nothing. "Draft the opening section of the report" gives you somewhere to start. The verb is the on-ramp. Without it, you circle the task instead of entering it.

Which brings me to something I said in the room recently that I've been thinking about ever since.

If the devil's in the detail, the virtue's in the verb.

The Final Flicker

Next time you write something down, notice whether you've given it a verb. Not for the sake of a system — but because the verb is where your intention lives. And intention, more than anything else, is what turns a list into a life.

See you later,
Mike

P.S. There's a deeper version of this conversation happening this Saturday. I'm going live with a solo episode — Intentional Productivity: Why Busy Is a Lie — and you'll be able to watch, listen, and bring your questions. If the verb idea landed for you, this is where it goes further starting at 12 PM ET today.

Thanks for reading. Your time is valuable, and I don’t take it for granted. In a world pulling us in all directions, thanks for choosing The Lantern.