“People who are successful keep track of their work with todo lists.”
I doubt anyone has said those exact words. But lots of people believe them, and so they use todo lists.
They have a todo list for their side project. One for errands they have to run. Another for their volunteer work with a community organization. Maybe one for shopping items. And another for stuff they need to discuss with their partner.
The problem is, none of it works.
Sure, they write down stuff on their lists.
And they do the things from those lists that are the most urgent.
But not because its on the list. And not because they wrote it down.
It’s easy in hindsight to mix up cause and effect.
Successful people keep track of their work with todo lists not because doing so made them successful. It didn’t. They do it because now that they’re successful they have a lot more to keep track of.
The success came first, then the luxury and necessity of tracking a lot of work.
Todo Lists Are Broken
And the todo lists get in the way of moving to the next level of success, because they are broken.
They are really just an easy way to procrastinate, to avoid saying no to unimportant things, to keep your life too cluttered to really move forward, and to stroke your own ego.
None of those things helps you move to the next level of success. They all actively prevent it.
Todo Lists Separate Tasks From Time
Because you’re not scheduling the work, you’re just adding it to a list, the tasks are cut off from the time it will take to do them. It’s just as easy to add something that takes 10 hours as it is to add something that takes two minutes.
Likewise, your todo list can grow to the point that to finish it all would require weeks of effort, but that’s not obvious from glancing at it.
It is, however, something that you’ll secretly suspect. And something that will constantly discourage you every time you look at your lists.
Todo Lists Require Multiple Habits
Having a bunch of different todo lists means you need a bunch of different habits to successfully use them.
You need a habit of checking your errands list when you leave the house.
A habit of checking your general todos when you have some spare time.
A habit of checking your project tasks when you set aside time to work on it.
A habit of going over your agenda tasks when you talk with your partner.
Each one of those may sound easy, but remember, we’re talking habits here. As in, you can’t even build a habit of regularly flossing. Each habit you add to your life takes weeks of consistent effort before it’s habitual. Habits are hard to make if they’re going to be hard to break. And if they’re easy to break, you won’t do them.
Todo Lists Make It Too Easy To Say Yes
I’ve done this, you’ve done this: organize all your tasks and todo items into some new system, and then feel really on top of the game. Now, whenever someone brings up something that needs doing, you can just add it to one of your lists.
And so you do.
Over and over again.
Until one day you look at all your long todo lists and just give up.
Todo Lists Make It Easy To Procrastinate
Instead of doing the easy tasks, you add it to your lists. And for the hard ones, you know they won’t disappear, so maybe you’ll tackle it another day, when you have more time.
Flip the Script
So toss out the todo lists.
Unfortunately, if you’re moderately successful, you still have the necessity (and the luxury) of dealing with many more tasks, todos, and potential work items.
To actually track your work and get it done, you need a different approach.
Tie Todos To Time
Instead of adding tasks to todo lists, add them to a tickler file. This ties them to a specific day, week, or month in the future.
Now it becomes easier to see how full a given day will be and adjust your expectations accordingly.
Plan Todos Using One Simple Habit
Building a single habit of daily planning that takes 5-10 minutes is the foundation of getting things done.
With a clear plan in your mind, you can move forward and make progress.
The plan you create is a single list you can look back to throughout the day to know what needs to be done and to keep you on task.
Use Daily Feedback To Say No And Deal With Procrastination
One big benefit of daily planning is that it becomes ridiculously obvious when you are consistently procrastinating a task. You keep moving it to the next day when you plan.
If you catch yourself doing this more than twice, it’s a red flag that you need to step back and figure out what’s going on.
It could be that part of you knows you’re not ready yet. Push it forward a few weeks to revisit.
Or you haven’t broken the task down enough to really start. So change it to “Break down project X”.
Or you just don’t want to but haven’t had the courage to say no. Delete it, and move on.
Over time you’ll discover your own unique reasons for procrastinating and then learn ways to deal with them.
Because daily planning brings the procrastination problem to the surface.
A New Life
Making these simple changes will lead to a new life.
I get it, you’re successful. You wouldn’t have lots to do if you weren’t.
But you haven’t reached the next level, because your tools are holding you back. Your habits are holding you back.
It’s time to try something new.