“Did you do what I asked?”

“What did you ask?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Uh… I guess not.”

“Did you write it down like I asked?”

“No.”

Dad was always telling me to write down the various chores he’d ask [...]]]> This was always a popular dialog between my father and I in my youth:

“Did you do what I asked?”

“What did you ask?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Uh… I guess not.”

“Did you write it down like I asked?”

“No.”

Dad was always telling me to write down the various chores he’d ask me to do. I don’t believe I ever once did it, and yet he kept telling me to do it. It wasn’t until years after he’d gone that I found, for myself, what he’d been trying to teach me all along: keeping and using a to-do list is crucial for any accomplishment.

The Multitasking Myth.

Contrary to popular belief, Human brains do not possess multi-core processors and massive RAM. As such, we are undoubtably terrible at multitasking. Our focus and attention are limited resources. When we try to divide that focus and attention between multiple tasks, we end up spreading things too thin. Yes, you could make fifteen PB&J’s out of a tablespoon of peanut butter and a tablespoon of jelly, but you’d end up with a bunch of really crummy sandwiches. A reasonable person would stop after one sandwich—and in this example it’s easy to understand why. But, how often are we this reasonable in the tasks we take on? Most folks who accomplish anything with excellence did not waste time dilly-dallying in other affairs. More often than not, “renaissance man” is a fancy way of saying “lazy and undedicated man”.

We make our brain an absurd one-man-band when we multitask. In contrast, utilizing a to-do list frees up cognitive energy. Every concern and worry occupies valuable cerebral real-estate and diminishes our ability to function: that’s why stress is such a killer! By writing down tasks, they’re extracted from our psyche and put onto paper. Just as storing money in a vault provides peace-of-mind, capturing tasks helps to overcome the worry naturally experienced when things remain on the mind.

Now, at this point it becomes extremely important to explain that there are useful tools and there are those which actually do more harm than good. For many, the distraction of systems is unbearably alluring and can cause us to drain hours developing the “perfect” to-do system and list. Don’t allow technique to overshadow the toil; pen and paper work fine.  Many task apps can be useful, but can also prove more effort than they’re worth. For most of us, simplest is best.

Implementation.

In General Conference, Joseph B. Wirthlin shared how he makes use of to-do lists:

“Each night before I go to bed, I take out a small card and write a list of the things I need to do the next day in order of their priority.

When I arrive at the office in the morning, I check my card and put all my efforts into the first item on the list. When I accomplish that item, I move on to the second and so on. Some days, I finish every item on my list. On other days, some tasks are not completed. I don’t become discouraged, however, because I’m focusing my energies on the things that matter most.”¹

As Elder Wirthlin points out, this process contains three steps: capturing, prioritizing, and completing.

Capturing, what Elder Wirthlin did at night, is the process of extracting desires, obligations, and concerns from the mind and placing them in storage as actionable tasks. Though Elder wirthlin spoke of doing this at night, there is nothing to stop you from immediately noting tasks throughout the day. In fact, I find this habit preferable— the less time in my mind, the better! Avoid adding those captured tasks to your day’s list immediately. True, circumstance may necessitate unforeseen tasks, but usually they can await another day.

Prioritizing happens daily by making a new list. Inasmuch as possible, avoid rearranging priorities throughout the day. This will allow you to avoid the trap of avoidance and procrastination that is fair to easy to fall into. If you accept that your list puts first things first, you’ll be more likely to honor that initial decision. It’s the same slippery-slope concept involved in any habit. Don’t be consumed in accomplishing all of the tasks, focus on one at a time, starting from the top— caving is more destructive than slow progress. As Elder Wirthlin notes, you may not accomplish all of your tasks in one day, and that is why putting the most important items at the top is critical. As far as to-do’s go, quantity never makes up for quality.

Completing tasks is both the goal and the reward. You will notice your effectiveness and ability skyrocket as you mark off tasks throughout the day. By reviewing the things you don’t complete, you may also become aware of which tasks are which actually unimportant. Here’s a hint: if a task has remained on your list for a week then it’s either not important, or you have some issues surrounding it which need to be resolved first. Do not adopt a cavalier attitude toward your tasks; consider completing them to be a sacred work.

After you’ve completed this process it’s time to wash, rinse, and repeat. The system becomes exponentially more effective the longer you use it because of a natural separation of important and frivolous that occurs over time. Like cream, the important tasks will rise to the top with time, by gained perspective.

Conclusion.

As evidence of the power of taking on tasks one at a time, I present this post. I utilized the very system I just explained in order to finish creating this, piece by piece. You see, I’d gotten into the horrendous habit of waiting until the night before my deadline and then feverishly pounding out something I could only wish made sense. The stress was tremendous (the grammar and spelling errors even more monumental)! Taking projects step-by-step in small, manageable chunks, has been the most effective means to accomplish my goals.

With that in mind I’m issuing a challenge:

1. Start tonight!
2. Make a list of 5 tasks.
3. Accomplish them tomorrow.
4. Capture any additional tasks you receive throughout the day.
5. Report back.

I can’t wait to hear about the experiences you’ve had. What were the difficulties? How did it improve your productivity? Good luck!

“Fear means, ‘there’s a bear here’ and anxiety means, ‘there might be a bear here’.” [...]]]> Back to Work is an awesome podcast. I recommend it to anybody who would like to get their stuff together, and get their head in the game of actually DOING something. Partway through the episode, host Merlin Mann said something profound:

“Fear means, ‘there’s a bear here’ and anxiety means, ‘there might be a bear here’.” (emphasis added)

Back to Work #4: Failing with Style – 5by5.

What intrigues me about this statement is how often we confuse the two. Fear can often, rightly, keep us from acting, or prompt us to action, which is beneficial to our survival. We should not always be dictated by it, certainly, but if our fear gives us pause and causes us to reason out the issue, then it can actually be healthy.

On the other hand, anxiety has absolutely no merit, because it causes obsession and inaction as a result of an emotion which is not based on reality. Anxiety serves no purpose.

For me, it takes a conscious decision not to allow anxiety to govern my action (or, more often, my inaction).