A well organized to-do list can be your best friend, but a tangled, out-of-control to-do list can be your worst enemy. How do you know when your list has crossed that line, though? For a compulsive list-maker and note-taker, especially, the strong inclination is to cling to your list. A lot of time can slip down the drain while you’re vacillating about whether to throw it out.
It’s certainly not always an easy decision to make, but here are some signs that you’ve gone too far need to scale back on the obsessive list-making:
You’re Spending More Time Making Lists Than Doing Work
If you’re using list-making to procrastinate by jotting down more and more low-priority tasks instead of getting any of the high-priority ones finished, you’re in trouble. It’s a vicious cycle, too, because the list only gets more overwhelming as you make it longer.
Your List Has Stale Items On It
When you’ve got a bunch of tasks that have been sitting on your to-do list, making you feel guilty for months, it’s time to either do them or wipe the slate clean. Sometimes, admitting that you’re not actually going to get something done can be as much of a relief as finishing it. Either way, make sure you’re not seeing stale tasks when you look at your to-do list.
Your List Has No Sense of Priority
If you’ve got a full make of stuff to do with notes in the margins, or an email folder full of action items that all appear equally urgent, you might want to start over. When your list isn’t telling you what your next action should be, it’s hurting you more than it’s helping.
Throwing away your to-do list doesn’t mean getting rid of everything on it. It means reevaluating what you should be doing right now, and making a clean, less-intimidating list. In fact, try to finish a couple of your most pressing tasks BEFORE you make that new list, so you don’t end up in the trap of drafting and redrafting pages of items without acting on any of them.
I know lists can seem immensely important, but sometimes you just have to let them go. Happy prioritizing!
Jay is a freelance writer based in Seattle, WA. He blogs about software for Download Squad and contributes interviews to Geek Monthly magazine, among others. You can also find him on Twitter.
Photo Credit – waterboy_of_the_lord
