Get More Done With A Done List
For years I've kept to-do lists. I use my favorite notebook: a dot grid, hardcover, medium size Leuchtturm1917. It's helpful to have a place to list out all the things I want and need to get done. When something pops up that needs doing at a later time, I know just where to make note of it. I worked hard to create a habit of always having my notebook with me so that I don't end up with to-do lists everywhere.
Unfortunately, even though I check off and cross out everything that gets done, there's been something missing. No matter how many items I accomplish, I often end the day with many more items incomplete and feel the burden of all that is left to do.
That's why, this year, I've revamped my process. I'm still carrying my notebook everywhere. I'm still writing down a list of all the things that need doing. The change is that I've added another list: the "done list".
Here's how it works:
All to-dos go on the right-hand page. This is where I add things that I need or want to do. I do this by the week, but daily would work if I had lots of tasks at work or home. If I'm feeling the need for a boost to my feelings of competency, I'll sometimes add things that I know will get done no matter what, like making lunch or taking a shower.
The to-do list is now treated as a list of options, not requirements. I remind myself repeatedly that finishing the whole list is not the goal, so I can create a new habit of thought. Where I used to feel this list had to be completed or I was a failure (and since it never was completed, I was always a failure), it's now just a benign list that is used as an external memory.
Each day, I review the list and choose items based on urgency or desire.
Once a task is done, I cross it off and write it on the left-hand page, on my new done list.
I only judge myself at the end of the day based on the done list on the left-hand page. I again remind myself that the incomplete items on the to-do list are only there as reminders, not as requirements.
At the end of the timeframe (weekly for me), I turn the page and start a new list by pulling forward anything that I still want or need to do and adding any new or recurring items. Then I repeat steps 2-5.
It's a lot more satisfying at the end of the day to look at all of the many tasks I did get done, instead of only looking at how much more there is to do. Surprisingly, I've found that I get a significant amount more done each day because as the done list grows, so does my motivation to make it even longer.
If you, like me, have struggled with the stress of feeling like you never get enough done, I urge you to give a done list a solid try for a month.
While it may seem redundant to both cross off items on my to-do list and write them again on my done list, adding in the done list gives me a discrete summary of all the good work I've done with none of the burden of what I haven’t done. I'm now able to go back through each done list page and easily see a record of all that I was able to accomplish. I'm much more motivated and productive than when I was only using one list, and I'm immensely less stressed about all the possible things there are to do.
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Now, it's possible that after years of beating yourself up over your incomplete tasks you have trouble seeing your to-do list as a menu of options instead of a must-do list. If that's the case, I'd like to point out that there is not a single item on your to-do list that has to be done. Every single one is a choice, and therefore optional.
There may be consequences you don't like if you don't do some things, but they are ALWAYS a choice.
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