



Is your to-do list making you unproductive?


Performance Matters


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Could you be misusing your to-do list?

Could you be misusing your to-do list? Photo: Michael Matisse

It's assumed that if you are the type of person who makes lists, you are organised and on top of your work.

There is an expectation that you know what you have to do and when you are going to do it. But is this true? Are to-do lists the pinnacle of personal effectiveness or are they holding you back?

I'm a prolific list writer. With lists for what I need to do at work, in the garage, in my house, updates to my wardrobe, financials that need addressing, the list goes on and on. I can even remember waiting to go into a movie in Hobart years ago and jotting down a to-do list with tasks on it that I'd already completed, just so I felt good — but that's another story for another day.

There is evidence to indicate that writing lists for all the different compartments of your life creates more of a logical order in your brain and can help people feel calmer and less scattered, but it wasn't until a few years ago, when Christie, my business partner at The Performance Clinic, pointed out that my daily to-do list was becoming a carbon copy most days and that I wasn't actually getting a lot of it to-done.

So I decided to investigate whether lists do make you more productive. And guess what? There's definitely a chance you could be misusing your to-do list, just as I was. Here's why:

1. Lists can become overwhelming

According to studies in 2000 by US researchers Iyengar and Lepper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, our brains can only deal with seven choices before we become overwhelmed. Their experiments were conducted in the field and in laboratory settings and indicated that individuals are more likely to buy gourmet jams or chocolates when their choices are limited to six, rather than having many more options available.

Now, I'm going to take a bet that the to-do list you've written today has a lot more than seven items on it. When we're faced with too many options, we're much more likely to do the opposite of what we need to do. We become overwhelmed (even comatose) and start surfing the web, calling friends or processing emails rather than putting our heads down and getting to work.

2. Lists don't allow for time allocation

Knowing what you have to do is great, but you also need to know how much time it's going to take you to complete each task. This was a big discovery for me. Most to-do lists aren't written with this element in mind and we just end up with a long line of items chunked together with no idea of how long each one will take. Your to-do list might contain a list of items that will take you 24 minutes to complete, 24-hours, or it could be 24 days.

3. Lists don't provide context

Writing a to-do list is not a surefire way to start writing your "done" list. This is because typical to-do lists do not show your planner or schedule at the same time or indicate when you have time to complete the item and how important it is in relation to the rest of the project/s you are working on.
So while to-do lists are useful for helping get thoughts out of your head and on to paper, there are better ways to plan your day so you can be more productive and effective.

Here are five tips to supercharge your daily planning:

1. Make it a habit

Like anything else in life, if you want to become good at something that doesn't come naturally, you need to practise and practise and practise. For productivity tactics, this would be committing to a daily planning method — every single  day. Make it part of your daily routine when you arrive at work each morning or before you go home at the end of the day. If you need more inspiration to plan, find a great place in the morning and map out your plan in the beautiful outdoors.

2. Think like an athlete

I know, I know, another sporting reference — but the truth is athletes follow a proven goal setting process. Professional athletes and sporting teams start with a clear plan of what they are aiming for — say, an Olympics, national championships or state titles, and then they work backwards, or reverse engineer the goal-setting process.

When I moved into the corporate world it seemed like a no-brainer to bring these planning habits with me. I'd set a bigger goal, such as building a business, and then work backwards to see what I had to do every month, week and day to achieve that goal. Try adopting the same process with your daily planning. Set yourself an overarching, inspiring goal and then allocate the smaller, milestone steps that you need to make to achieve that goal.

3. Be both outcome and task driven

Sound complicated? Don't worry, it's easy. While you're writing your to-do list, think about the one thing that you would like to get done that day or week. Maybe it's finishing a proposal for a potential client, or completing a presentation for an upcoming meeting. Write down specifically what you need to do to get that outcome done, then estimate how long it will take you to complete each task. This way you know what you have to do and how long it's going to take.

4. Prioritise

If you're anything like most of my clients (or me), there is no way you will ever achieve everything you're asked to do. We're always busy and have way more on our plate than we can ever hope to accomplish. For this reason, you need to learn the art of prioritisation. Ask yourself, is it more important to spend two hours writing a draft of a proposal that is due tomorrow, or to spend half the day working on a presentation that is due in a month?

5. Recalibrate

In the corporate world, sh*t happens and it really is just a fact of life that we have to deal with it. No matter how good your daily planning is, it's highly likely that something (an interruption, an emergency, a bushfire of some sort) will arise to prevent you from getting all of your work done. For this reason, I recommend recalibrating a few times a day to ensure that what you are working on is still relevant and is the best use of your time.

What do you think? How do you plan for each day?

Follow Andrew May on Twitter

14 comments so far

  • The real thing that stops us checking off list items is because we are waiting for information, resources or decisions, usually from managers who try to haphazardly assign tasks without caring about what is needed to make that task happen (and controlling the things needed for the task).

    To do lists are great if you have everything you need, and they are great in chaotic work environments where structure is not as effective.

    But like any tool, you have to find the right one for the job.

    Date and time
    November 07, 2012, 1:21PM
    • my to-do list is drawn up each night on the back of an used envelope - with reference to yesterday's uncompleted items and new items added.

      I usually put 4 marks on the left side - at the top and the others each a quarter way down so like 4 sections - H for home - stuff to do at home, W for work, stuff to do at work, X for phone calls - not so much these days of email or sms, and > for go to, stuff where I have to go somewhere, e.g. to buy something or visit someone

      Today's list has total 17 items - about 4 items for each mark

      People might think it's obsessive - but I find it freeing - once my list is made up of everything I need or intend to do, I can glance at it anytime, and if nothing on that list is urgent right now or the right place or time, I can relax.

      Because the tasks are grouped, I make 4 phone calls in one short session - done for the day.

      When I get to work, I glance at the 4 items I need to do, and knock them over - 1,2,3,4 - done !

      Works for me - not extra work, no forgotten panic, just stress-relieving, efficient, time and energy-saving and frees up my time to relax!

      Date and time
      November 08, 2012, 10:10AM
  • I love making lists. They keep me on track.
    I never get stressed out if I miss something, I just know it needs to be on the next list I make haha

    Date and time
    November 07, 2012, 8:49PM
    • Another option, once you have followed Andrew's advice, is to 'outsource' or delegate those activities which are not core to your business of life's leisure. The Personal Concierge concept has been established for some time overseas and is now growing in Australia as business professionals and others come to realise that their time is precious.

      Date and time
      November 08, 2012, 2:49AM
      • Outsourcing is a brilliant idea for those who have cash flow to do so.

        Hassle Free Marketing
        Regents Park Sydney
        Date and time
        December 05, 2012, 7:16AM
    • Or you can be like the character Arnold Rimmer from 'Red Dwarf' who was forever makings lists and then reviewing his lists and then reviewing his revised lists and so on...

      Date and time
      November 08, 2012, 9:03AM
      • Making lists does seem to help focus and prioritising but it is also instructive to notice how some of the to-do's just naturally fall away either because circumstances or priorities change. I feel sorry for people who obsess over their lists and can't let things just simmer sometimes. Don't forget to smell the roses (they are beautiful at the moment).

        Inertia Meadowview
        Date and time
        November 08, 2012, 9:44AM
        • didn't actually read the article, but put it on my list of things to do later... :)

          Date and time
          November 08, 2012, 9:54AM
          • Too often the stress of ticking off the list overwhelms the actual jobs at hand. Somehow we have become conditioned to respond to a list rather than the energy is takes to complete a task. Throw away the list and simply get on with what you are doing.

            Date and time
            November 08, 2012, 9:54AM
            • I only write a list when I have the time and energy to get on the task. So recently I wrote a list of activities to help me clear and replant my front yard. It was a concise list and didn't include any fantasy options just regular hard graft. So with a few days effort I got to cross each line off. It helped me to prioritize and to feel achievement at the end of each day so that I was happy to get up and continue the following day.

              I have learned that lists are only useful if they are sensible and to the point and can be used as a support.

              Date and time
              November 08, 2012, 4:42PM

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