The To-Done List
Bogged down? Try the To-Done list as an enjoyable alternative to the To-Do list
Anyone else a list addict? Are you working from home alone like me, using any excuse to get things down on paper (IT won't cut it in this respect)?
Do you love-hate the minutiae of list-making but succumb to it anyway? Are you currently listing for AW21 - the house, the garden, the kids; work, leisure, food, meals....
If I was to be buried with my lists I think the space needed to accommodate us all would be very large indeed. At any one time I could empty the pockets of my coats, jackets, jeans pockets and turn out half a dozen scrappy cardboard lists. From these I could extrapolate what I still needed to do/buy/get on with and create the foundation of a brand new list.
So, is this list-making a terrible waste of time or actually quite an effective way of holding onto one's sanity in a busy world? I guess it depends on your perspective.
We all have to find our way through life and lists are what I fall back on time and again so it must work for me.
Lists enable me to safely empty my head of the mundane stuff I don't want there so I can focus on the paying work that allows me to survive as an own-working homeworker.
A List for List-Makers
If you're interested, here’s what a lifetime of list-making has taught me:
Miscellaneous trivia or serious concerns can call you away from important work
Acknowledge, respect and nail this distracting stuff by -
Writing it down and corralling it - in a list!
Now rest easy knowing it’s safely recorded for later attention
Then you can get on with more pressing matters but
Deal with/give time to The List as a separate piece of work in its own right
Keep all your lists in one go-to place eg a diary
Lists can stop you repeating jobs already done (it’s more common than you’d think) by acting as a reference
Lists are essentially small step goals, each one completed is a quick win
Completed small goals give us a burst of ‘pleasure chemicals’ including a sense of achievement
Beyond the To-Do List
Fed up with to-do listing? You might like to consider the to-done list instead of/as well. This is really good fun.
A to-done list is a quick and easy way to document and appreciate everything you've accomplished in a day/week/month. It’s particularly rewarding to the own-working person working from home with their endless distractions and interruptions, who might feel (wrongly, usually) that they are getting very little done.
Kept in a diary, a to-done list is an instantly accessible, useful and satisfying record of your work output. Some people prefer to record all their work after the event in to-done lists, rather than beforehand in to-do lists.
Exciting isn't it?
Don’t be List Slave
Remember, you manage your lists. It shouldn't be the other way round.
Don't become a list slave, creating endless streams of impossible-to-complete tasks just for the sake of it, beating yourself up for your lack of efficiency when you inevitably fail to strike off the last item.
Lists are there to alleviate anxiety, not add to it, so know when to stop.
Keep lists short and the point. Set a specific time and date to deal with them; this is important.
The things you list are not minor or ancillary to your 'proper' work - to be fitted in as and when - they are integral to your work, so respect them as such by allocating sufficient resources and headspace to complete them properly.
List-away then, in the knowledge that you are probably more in control of your life with lists, than without them.
Jane Anderson PhD is an writer, researcher and practitioner in Sociospacial Reciprocity and Place Therapy from home. She’s been helping people create supportive, productive and sustainable environments at home and in the workplace for over 30 years.
www.jcaconsult.co.uk
www.linkedin.com/in/drjaneanderson/