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List of ways to ruin a list
Your New Year's resolutions are only as good as
your daily to-do list. You can make all the grand statements you want,
but if you don't stay on track each day you won't be able to reach
those goals. To-do lists are for people who believe in their dreams
and their ability to reach them. List makers are people who have a
plan for success. Everyone should have a daily to-do list.
But if you're not careful, your list will slide from
a dream machine to a procrastination process. Here are seven typical
ways people undermine their list:
1. Ignore it. This
is my pet thing to do. If I can't handle my life that day, I don't
look at the list and then I can think I don't need to do anything.
But then the rest of the week is hell because I'm compensating for
stuff I messed up by ignoring. It would have been easier to look
at the list, do the emergency items and then get back into bed.
2. Write amorphous list items.
Take, for example, "work on presentation". When is this
list item finished? How many things need working on? Why would you
start it when you have no idea what you are going to do or how to
finish it? This list item is like poison ivy -- you see it and go
another way. Break things down. Besides, it's nice to cross stuff
out. I've been known to write "buy envelopes" as one of
my steps to sending out a resume. It's an easy step in a hard process,
and makes me feel like I'm getting something done in my big picture
goal of getting a job.
3. Create a wish list. A
wish list is not a to-do list. It's important to have life goals,
and it's nice to be lofty, but no point in putting "buy a house"
on your to-do list. If you really can buy a house, try something
smaller like, "call mortgage broker" If you can't even
get that far, then make a list of things you'd like to have in 10
years. Put "buy a house" on it and put your 10-year plan
on your fridge. Then get back to your to-do list -- every 10-year
plan is the culmination of 3,000 daily to-do lists.
4. Force manic switching.
E-mail, phone, errand, e-mail, phone, errand. This is not
a productive day. A good day is e-mail, e-mail, e-mail, phone, phone,
phone, errand, errand, errand. So organize your to-do list so that
all e-mails that must get done are in one sitting. Sure, an errand
might be more important than your sixth e-mail, but if they both
have to get done that day, do them in an order that won't drive
you nuts. Switching from one thing to another is innately difficult.
Babies have a hard time so they often ask to breastfeed so they
can cope with changing scenery. Adults use Ho-Hos. Or the television.
Both bad.
5. Wallow in your it-would-be-nice
items. Most adults do not have time for these. Unproductive
adults indulge themselves in these anyway. For example, I do not
have time to make cupcakes for my husband's birthday, but I put
them on the to-do list anyway, and then, on his birthday, the cupcakes
look more fun than anything else so I make them. And then, when
my husband comes home, I'm annoyed because his cupcakes ruined my
workday.
6. Lose the big picture. How
many people are unemployed but don't have "get a job"
on their list? Good for you because "get a job" is too
vague. But you do need something there, like, "Send out six
resumes" or "make two networking calls". So many
people leave off the most important thing because it seems obvious.
But if you don't put it on the list and schedule it, it won't happen.
7. Write a novel. A
list is not a novel. It is one page. 8 ½ by 11. Any list
longer than that cannot be done in a day unless you have an assistant.
And if you have an assistant and you have all his stuff on your
list then you are micromanaging. Stop that.
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