6. Iron 10 things
Taming the to-do list.
Dear Reader,
I live my life by lists, and I love them!
Lists are funny things, though. A good list is a road-map for a productive everyday life, while a bad one is a hard taskmaster. I don’t want to feel cowed by my list, or beat myself up at the end of the day for not getting things done.
I want my list to support and guide me.
I used to make random lists on any piece of paper I had lying around, and would drive myself mad with them all. I knew I needed a list to organise my life, but I didn’t have a system. These days I organise my life and my to-dos in my bullet journal - it’s terrific not just for to-do lists but also for jotting down things I want to remember, upcoming appointments, managing projects, and the ability to refer back to things in the future.
(I’ll be writing more about this in a future newsletter, but if this has piqued your interest then check out www.bulletjournal.com in the meantime.)
This is the sort of list I used to struggle with:
Buy milk
Get new job
Ironing
These are all to-dos, but they have vastly different characteristics.
‘Buy milk’ is simple, but there’s more to say here. I do my grocery shopping online with a weekly delivery, and I know that milk is going to be in that delivery. The reason I’ve put ‘Buy milk’ on my list today, though, is because I need milk today. So that’s helpful. It’s on the list, because I know I need it in time for my next cuppa: I can’t wait for my delivery. So far, so good.
‘Get new job’, though, is another story. Seeing a huge task like that distilled into just three words on a to-do list fills me with dread. Setting such high expectations for myself in so few words is really daunting. There’s an assumption in the wording that I’m going to accomplish it – I mean, that’s great – but there’s nothing there to support me in how I’m going to do it! ‘Get new job’ is a massive thing to just chuck on a list. I mean, next stop: overwhelm!
How about this, though? Let’s give it a project title – ‘New job’. This is something that could go on my list for today, with some appropriate sub-items to guide me further in my journey to that new job.
Consider:
New job
Finish updating CV
Ask P to be my referee
Find 3 vacancies to apply for tomorrow
After I’ve done those three sub-items, I can cross through that top bullet point today, and then tomorrow’s list might look like this:
New job
Apply for 3 vacancies
E-mail P – thanks!
Schedule practice interview with M – Wed/Thu?
Find 3 more vacancies to apply for tomorrow
There! That’s not a list – it’s an action plan! And I can keep working through every day’s new steps for the project ‘New job’ until I’ve reached my goal.
Now for the third thing. Putting ‘Ironing’ on my list has never worked for me - I would always feel the expectation on myself to do it all, regardless of how much is in the pile. If ‘Ironing’ is on my list and I find by the end of a busy day that I’ve ironed two out of 22 things, well, can I in good conscience cross ‘Ironing’ off? Probably not. But if I leave it on the list – out of reluctant courtesy to the 20 garments still awaiting my attention – how does that relate to any kind of accomplishment for what I have ironed today?
Reader, it doesn’t relate at all.
So instead of ‘Ironing’, I’ll put ‘Iron 10 things’ on my list. It’s worth putting the ironing board up for 10 things. I can easily iron 10 things. Shirts take longer than napkins, tea towels and hankies – but if I’ve got less time to iron than I’d hoped for, and my sole target is to iron 10 things and eight of them are small, flat and square, that means only two need to be shirts and I’ll’ve nailed that list in no time at all.
Have I ironed 10 things?
YES!
Can I cross that off my list?
YES!
I can of course iron more than 10 things, or I might finish the pile – even better! Either way, I get to cross it off.
Being specific, then – by breaking down the huge task of getting a job into smaller steps, or by targeting a number of items to be ironed – makes a list far less daunting and much easier to follow. And of course this ‘Iron 10 things’ approach is transferable to lots of other tasks!
Clear 20 e-mails from inbox
Book next four grocery deliveries
Choose next two books to read
But what if I’m not specific at the time I write my list? I’m in the habit of doing some housework every day, and I don’t always know exactly what this is going to be at the point of writing my list. So I’ll put just ‘Housework’, and then when I’ve done it, I’ll make a little note of what I did right next to that word on the list. That’s my acknowledgement for my hard work.
As you can see, my lists are not just ‘to dos’, they are their own little records of achievement for me to gloat over at the end of the day. And for someone who needs to know how she’s doing in her journey through the world, this kind of list is just the kind of roadmap I need.
Love,
Rebecca
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Actually, my junk drawer is named Bruce.
Yes. I think "records of achievement" may be more important than being expeditious. You are on to something. I remember having 10 things on my to-do list for the day and actually getting all 10 of them done! As I aged ( and aged and aged ) my list became three things, and I didn't always get to them. I resented getting up in the morning to a list telling me to get busy. So I switched gears a year ago. Now, every night before I go to bed I make a list of what I accomplished. ( swept spider webs off the porch, cooked beans, cleaned out junk drawer, called Susan) Then when I wake up I see yesterday's list and feel positive! It is a small change - recording not what I MUST DO but rather what I DID DO. Somehow it makes a difference.