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Note to Self - Today I must: Look into new accounting firm; schedule meeting with head of Eastern Europe Division; cancel insurance on the Pontiac; pick up bottle of Merlot…

Making lists is a ubiquitous practice: it is done throughout the world by just about everyone between the ages of 9 and 99, from high school students to university professors; from heads of companies to heads of households.

Whether maintained on a PDA, jotted down inside a small spiral notebook or scribbled on the back of an envelope, the to-do list can be a friend, foe, manager, dictator, companion and confessor – sometimes all of the above, sometimes all at once.

While creating a list of things to do seems in itself a fairly easy task, making efficient and productive usage of that list turns out to be far less so. Valiant list-makers who find that they are constantly, even hopelessly, chasing to keep up with their own lists are not alone. According to time management and organizational expert Mark Forster, despite its appeal, the to-do list generally does not work.

» Get the PDF “The Closed List: Regaining Control Over Your Day” including full references (Club members only)

“There are two main reasons why,” writes Forster in his blog, ‘Get Everything Done’. “The first is that you never get more than a third of the way down the list. The second is that for every item that you cross off the list, you think of another three items to go on it.

While creating a to-do list with all of our wishes and intentions can be a cathartic process that feels like a brand new start, this fresh feeling generally doesn’t last. As the day goes on, most people find that their list was born out of wishful thinking rather than realistic planning; an impossible mission from the get-go. It is possible that on some level they never actually intended to complete all of the items on their list, in which case they unwittingly set themselves up, if not for failure, then for a no-win situation.

Open Lists

This problem of the unrealistic, impractical to-do list is compounded by the usage of what is called an open list - one that continuously grows as the day progresses. The constant increase of tasks denies a person the ability to properly plan his or her day, thus causing that feeling of always running behind.

Forster fan and blogger Luciano Passuello describes how such a list can morph from something like a seductive array of candies to a “giant blob of threatening commitments.” While the act of making the list causes the creator to feel a momentary sense of control, as the list begins to grow, the person starts to feel out of control – of the list and of their life. Whatever tasks they now manage to carry out are done mainly so that they may cross them off the list. In an ironic twist, rather than the list serving one’s life, one’s life becomes servile to the list.

To counter these and other difficulties caused by the open-list mentality, Forster has developed a few simple techniques which he describes in his book “Do It Tomorrow”.

First, he says, we must deal with the backlog of unfinished tasks that have built up in the absence of a well-oiled time-management system by filing them away, out of sight. Later, once we have put a DIT system in place, dealing with the backlog items will become an achievable task of tomorrow that invites success, rather than an unfulfilled task of yesterday that allows only for failure.

Closed Lists

Second, we must establish a daily task diary in which we carefully select the tasks that can be done the next day, scheduling them as we would schedule any meeting or appointment. Here, we must take care to choose only the items that can be realistically completed and then honestly commit to them. This type of diary uses what is known as a closed-list – a list composed of a finite number of tasks.

Forster also calls this a will-do list, a concept further developed by Passuello, whose version has two main principles. The first is to make a 100% commitment to fulfill the items on the list. Any task whose success seems doubtful does not belong on the will-do list, without exceptions. The second is that once the list is created, it must remain closed – nothing more may be added to it.

Instead of branding and throwing out open lists completely though, we should simply take care to use them more wisely. Forster suggests maintaining one that is kept separate from the daily closed list, in which we record any new ideas as they crop up during the day. This way these potentially valuable ideas are preserved, without draining energy and focus from the current agenda.

The secret to writing a good closed list is to ask yourself “What do I actually think I’m going to get done today?” - Mark Forster

Aware of most people’s tendency to overestimate what can actually be done in a day, Forster has invented a game to challenge his readers. The winners are rewarded with a more productive lifestyle. Success, Forster is saying, is not in how much we do, but in how able we are to fulfill that which we intend.

The game is simple and based on the premise of creating a closed list of actions to which nothing will be added once the list is complete. Simply make a list of items to be done the next day and then set out to accomplish them. Every item completed will receive one point, but - and here’s the catch - only if all of the items are done. A completed two-item list will therefore earn two points, whereas a ten-item list with only nine items completed will earn nothing.

For those who have lived far too long under the tyrannical rule of the never-to-be-completed task list, such advice should come as a welcome revelation.

» Get the PDF “The Closed List: Regaining Control Over Your Day” including full references (Club members only)

Author: Joy Pincus
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