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This time of year I
begin thinking about how useful it is to take stock of things
and then put together a list of what I want to accomplish in
the coming year (aka New Year’s Resolutions.)
The whole New Year’s
Resolutions thing had gotten a bit intimidating, so I decided
to approach it as a simple list-making project. This led me to look
into list-making as a process.
My partner, Barbara,
was a huge inspiration in this endeavor, as she is one of
those people who is a great list maker. I began watching her
to figure out what she was doing that worked. The first thing I
noticed was that she wrote her lists down on
paper! Sounds
obvious, but I had been relying on simply making mental
lists. Bad idea,
because while they did tend to get shorter over time, it was
due as much to my forgetting tasks as it was to completing
them.
The second thing that
I noticed was that after making a written list she edited
and re-arranged the list! I tried that and
discovered that, often, something that I thought was a high
priority when I first wrote it down became a second- or
third-order priority when I went back and reviewed what I had
written. The
lesson, to me, was that going back over the written list gave
me the time to think about priorities and sequencing (more on
that later.)
Finally, I noticed
that Barbara seemed to get a lot of satisfaction from crossing
items off of her list. I couldn’t understand
why it pleased her so. Then I discovered the
mini-high that comes with identifying something that needs
doing, committing it to paper, and then doing it! As they say, the minor
victories in life are often the sweetest.
If list-making is so
simple and helpful, then why doesn’t everyone do it? Except for the rare
individual whose brain seems wired to enjoy making
lists, I think the problems arise from some fallacies we
harbor about what lists can do! Here are three
biggies:
1. The
Completion Fallacy, or the “Just Making The List Means That
It’s Done” Fallacy. Making a list of
what needs to be done takes a certain amount of mental
pressure off, but you have to guard against the temptation to
take a break, get a cup of coffee, and congratulate yourself
on being organized at last. You’re not done;
you’ve just begun! Get cracking on the #1
item on the list!
2. The Equality Fallacy,
or the “All Tasks Are Not Created Equal” Fallacy. The list you made this
morning is usually written down in the order in which you
thought of things that needed doing (usually roughly
corresponding to the pressure to accomplish each one that you
feel), but this is not necessarily their order of
importance.
That’s such an important point that I’m going to say it
again: Look at
your list to figure out which items are “urgent,” which are
“important,” and which one must be done first. Then, find the one
that should be done second. Mark them “#1,” “#2,”
and so on. Then
start with #1.
3. The Fantasy Fallacy,
or the “I Will Solve The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict By The
End Of The Day” Fallacy. Make the items on your
list realistic.
You aren’t going to finish a three-week project by the end of
the first day, and listing it as a to-do item will only lead
to frustration at the day’s end when there is still plenty to
do. Instead, pick
one do-able part of the project that will help you meet the
three-week deadline, and put it on your list.
Now that we
know some of the pitfalls to avoid when we make a list, let’s
look at how to edit that list. It’s the edited
version of the list that will turn out to be more focused,
more organized, and will get you launched on a productive
day. Also, it is
best to do this work on scratch paper. This is “scratch” work
for your own use, not a slick product that has to look
fancy!
Here are four
guidelines that you can use to organize your daily list into
something that will help you get done what needs to be
done:
1. Group similar tasks to
simplify the list, and to see what order to do things in;
2. Set priorities. This may seem
repetitive, but priorities change as you re-arrange a list;
take another look at them!
3. Ask yourself whose
help or assistance you need with items on your list. Delegate those tasks
(or parts of tasks) that don’t require your personal
touch. And,
although those tasks are off your list, following up on them
isn’t.
4. Eat the big frog
first. This one
comes from a story I heard long ago about how to approach a
bunch of ugly tasks, and it’s especially useful if you are
finding it hard to get started: pick the item on your
list that you’ve been avoiding, that is most important, or
most urgent, and DO IT! Cross it off with an
elated feeling of accomplishment and reward yourself with a
cup of coffee or something. With that ugly frog
out of the way, you have a head of steam that will carry you
into the next item and you are well on the way to ripping
right through that list.
That’s
it for list making. At the top of my list,
right now, is to wish each of you a Merry Christmas, a
wonderful holiday season, and a prosperous New Year! Let’s make 2008 even
better than 2007!
Remember, People are not your most
important asset!
The RIGHT People are!
To hire the best, test!
To reveal management potential, test!
To diagnose
problem behavior, test!
Best regards,
Kurt G. Helm, Ph.D.
Phone Toll Free
800-886-4356
Email: khelm@helmtest.com
Website: http://www.helmtest.com/
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