The Four Things Framework: How to Do Just Enough

My low-pressure daily structure that supports my ADHD brain, helps combat burnout, and allows me to get just enough done — even when it feels like I have open, boundless time

Getting things done can be difficult for me in general, but during a layoff, it can feel almost impossible.

I sometimes find myself beating myself up about this. I have endless time — why can’t I be more productive? It should be easy to fill my days, and if I’m struggling, it must be my fault.

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AN UPDATE: I have received such positive feedback on The Four Things Framework. Since writing this, I’ve created a Notion template to help you get organized and put this framework into action. Check it out here.

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I forget that layoffs can be traumatic, and I truly believe we process them like breakups or other forms of loss.

With the ‘gift’¹ of 40 shiny and new free hours in each week, the pressure to do more is everywhere. Do more job searching, do more hobbies, do more cleaning, do more reorganizing. Do more side hustles. Do more workouts. Do more time with family. Do more outside. Do more writing. Do more things you want to do and do more things you should do.

Do more.

The potential of doing more is something I find inspiring on the surface, but when I dig in it can feel incredibly limiting and paralyzing. If there’s so much to do, I’ll never do enough. I’ll never do it all. So why do any of it?

On a particularly low day, I was explaining this conundrum to my husband. He suggested I pick three things per day to do².

I tried that, but found myself overthinking my three things. It sounded so easy in theory. But in practice, it started to feel difficult. Limiting, yet also limitless. Three random things? Who’s to say these are the right three things?

I love the idea of making it simple and committing to less in order to do more, but I found picking three things (yes, any three!) was still too open-ended.

Through second-guessing what counted as three things, I realized I was trying to find a way to do more. But the point of my husband’s suggestion wasn’t actually to do more — it was about feeling productive and having small, actionable goals that I could check off at the end of the day.

I knew in order to make this work for me, I needed a few more guardrails. I thrive with structure, and when my options feel too open I know I need to make it even smaller (see my Minimum Viable series for more).

I don’t want my daily goal to be to do more just for the sake of it. I realized I want to lower the stakes and give myself the permission to do less. Once I figured out how to do that effectively, I was able to do more, day over day, in the long run.

I looked at my to-do list, and a way to handle it unfurled in front of me. I want to introduce you to the Four Things Framework.

The Four Things Framework

Four categories, four things, low stakes.

I created four categories that my to-dos fall into, and then I pick one thing from each category to accomplish each day.

Yep, that’s it — that’s the framework.

There’s a little nuance here (of course), so let’s get into it.

1. Write your To-Dos

This is the part I did naturally at the beginning of my layoff — I allowed myself to write down every little thing I wanted to do and laid it all out.

That’s the first step to this framework. Write down everything you want to do. Find a job, connect with colleagues, clean out that one closet you haven’t opened in six months, start a Couch to 5K program, list that jacket on Depop, and so on.

Don’t worry about when you’ll do it or how you’ll get it done. Don’t worry about whether it’s practical or that important. Just capture everything. Use whatever system you like — paper and pen, a list in your Notes app, an Asana board, a cute Notion template³. Don’t overthink any part of this.

2. Select your Four Categories

Next, you’ll divide your to-do list into four categories. Your mileage may vary, but I propose dividing your list into the following categories: managing your home, professional growth, creative pursuits, and personal maintenance and fulfillment.

As I was scanning my to-dos, these four categories naturally appeared. For me, those categories break down to include:

1. Managing my home: Housework, parenting tasks, and other chores

2. Professional growth: Job searching, looking for freelance writing jobs, and networking

3. Creative pursuits: Writing for Substack, submitting essay pitches to publications, and any other work that supports my creative writing goals

4. Personal maintenance: Personal hygiene, working out, going on walks, reading, meditating, playing guitar, and journaling (more on why these last two aren’t in the ‘creative pursuit’ category soon).

Four categories that will help me check a few boxes and reclaim my time. Not for the sake of toxic productivity, but rather so I avoid a potential outcome — being stuck on the couch (or in bed) with no direction, navigating through my tendencies as a perfectionist, and feeling paralyzed by a mountain of to-dos.

Note that the decision to separate creative pursuits from personal tasks is an intentional one. While I’m not your parent and can’t tell you what to do, I recommend that you separate them. I initially tried to categorize them together, but it felt forced.

To-dos like ‘write an essay for Substack’ trying to live in the same category as ‘take a shower’ were competing for importance, for space, and I quickly saw a world where I’d never prioritize either the shower or the writing. It made me feel like I was choosing between self-care and a creative pursuit that is really important for me to take action on every day. I wanted permission to do both, always.

Taking care of yourself can make your hobbies and creativity easier to access — I start writing some of my best essays while on walks, feverishly opening my Notes app to capture it all. And while writing and creativity is personally fulfilling, it’s important enough that it deserves to stand alone.

There may be overlap, and that’s okay. While on most days, I consider journaling my personal task, there are days when it is my creative task. While playing guitar is creative, it’s not contributing to my specific ‘creative pursuit’, which is writing — it’s a fun hobby that helps me relieve stress, and while I’m also building a skill it really does feel like self-care to me.

I hope that makes sense. This framework is intended to meet you where you are, and not the other way around.

3. Pick your Four Things

Every day, pick four things you’ll accomplish that day. One household, one professional, one creative, one personal.

And that’s it. Don’t overthink what those four things are. They can be as big or as small as you need them to be.

You have permission to make them as small as you need them to be.

Here are some of my example days. We may differ in how we prioritize, and I’m intentionally not sharing whether I consider these big or small (or medium) tasks.

Example Day #1

• Unload the dishwasher

• Spend 30 minutes looking for and saving jobs to apply to later

• Write an essay outline for one idea

• Go on a 15-minute walk

Example Day #2

• Put the empty cups on your desk in the sink

• Look at job postings for five minutes

• Write 200 words.

• Brush your teeth before noon

Example Day #3

• Unload and reload the dishwasher

• Look for and apply to jobs for an hour

• Finish an essay draft and schedule/publish it

• 45-minute strength training workout (or your higher energy workout of choice)

Example Day #4

• Sort the mail pile

• Write that LinkedIn recommendation for the coworker who asked if you’d be willing to do so two weeks ago

• Submit three pitch ideas to three publications

• Go to the handball court and hit your tennis ball against the wall for as long as you want, even if you haven’t picked up your racket in three years and never were any good

As you can see, these days vary. The tasks vary. Some days I have a lot of energy, and some days I don’t. Some days I prioritize a bigger task in one area over the other.

Your daily to-dos should feel small enough to take action but big enough to feel accomplished, and you may be surprised by just how ‘small’ of a task can lead to that accomplishment.

And if you’re thinking these lists don’t have enough on them, keep reading.

4. Do More (or not).

The point of the Four Things Framework is not only to do four things, every day, for as long as you live.

If you do, that’s totally cool. Meet yourself where you are.

But the intention behind this is about building momentum. By picking four things you will get done, regardless of what else you could get done, you’re signing up for exactly what you think you can achieve that day. It’s easier to get tasks started, it’s easier to finish them.

It creates momentum. It helps you do more.

Most of the time, starting something from my Four Things list sets me in motion, and I’m ready to do more. If I thought I’d only be able to unload the dishwasher, I often find myself reloading it right away. And on some days, I’ll even wipe down the kitchen counters right after that (a task I can rarely just get started on if left to my own devices).

And gasp: I’ll do all of those extra household tasks even if I haven’t finished the other Four Things on my list!

Repeat after me: I am allowed to ‘do more’ even if I haven’t finished my Four Things. I am allowed to follow my own momentum and stray from my list. I am in control of my days.

Seriously. Say it out loud.

On LinkedIn, saving three jobs often turns into saving 15 jobs and applying to them, too. A 10-minute walk can easily turn into an hour-long walk (or, if you’re someone who runs, a run. I am not someone who runs, so that will never happen for me).

That running to-do list you created in Step 1 becomes your ‘Do More’ list. When you find the momentum, it’s a place where you can draw inspiration from.

It’s not a place for you to go and get lost in anymore. We have a framework in place to handle that now. If nothing speaks to you, that’s okay. You’ve done your Four Things. But often when you’re in the groove, the next thing to ‘do more’ of will find you sooner.

And many days, finishing my Four Things is an achievement in and of itself — I want to be very clear, this framework is intended to honor those days just as much as it’s meant to help find that momentum.

When I first implemented this framework, that’s exactly what I needed to navigate the post-layoff fog. To have four small, actionable things that I knew I could get done. It got me out of a rut that I think I would’ve stayed in much longer if not for this framework — I’ll share more about that in my next Layoff Diaries essay.

Having a way to organize what felt like endless ‘free’ time and too many possibilities has really helped me structure the day to day of my layoff. I do more overall, but I am no longer trying to do more. Building momentum while challenging myself to do less has been powerful.

So, if you find yourself with what feels like endless free time and too many to-dos, I challenge you to try this — even if for just a day. Start with Four Things and see what happens.

1. It is not a gift. But people who have not been laid off love to talk about that as a silver lining.

2. Important to note: we are still using childcare, because I don’t know how I’ll find a job without it. If this takes a really long time, it might be something we re-evaluate, but having a kid at home is a full time job. This essay assumes you have a large amount of new free hours every week, where you’re only responsible for yourself, and that you’re not doing unpaid work as a stay at home parent. I do have a naptime framework that I can share soon too — but this one is just relevant to where I am at this point in my life.

3. I use THIS cutie lil template from Internet People — I bought it like 6 months ago but only just started using it when i was laid off. It’s a system that works for me right now but with any system, you may have many other things that work for you! And with all systems, what supports you today might not tomorrow (I have much more to say about this actually, but it’s currently something I pitched for comission so will wait to hear back about that one).