News Flash: To-Do Lists Fans Are "Closet Procrastinators"
By: Bean Jones
My mother is probably one of the most devoted to-do list fans. Unfortunately, she's become a slave to the list. She agonizes over not being able to put a check mark on the tasks she hopes to do each day. Last Saturday, right after lunch, my father finally pointed out this fact. "Honey," he told her, "you spend way too much time making that list. You're beginning to scare me."
I didn't stick around to find out what happened after that. (But I was quite relieved when my father called the next day to report that he and my mother were still sharing the same roof.)
In the article "Is the To-Do List Doing You In?," Kathleen McGowan, explains my mother's to-do list addiction: "Plenty of us create a to-do list to address feelings of being overwhelmed, but we rarely use these tools to their best effect. They wind up being guilt-provoking reminders of the fact that we're 'overcommitted' and losing control of our priorities."
Often, the people who have such detailed lists turn out to be "closet procrastinators."
"Too often, the list is seen as the 'accomplishment' for the day, reducing the immediate guilt of not working on the tasks at hand by investing energy in the list," observes procrastination researcher Dr. Timothy Pychyl, a professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
So what's the first step to kicking one's procrastination problem?
Dr. Bill Knaus, author of The Procrastination Workbook, offers these tips:
1. Learn to prioritize. Don't get bogged down by tasks that could wait. Alphabetizing your DVD collection isn't such a good idea when you have a leaky water pipe to fix. To help you stay focused, use the Daily Target Praxis (DTP) highlighted in Simpleology 101.
2. Do it ASAP. To borrow a popular tagline from a sports apparel ad: Just do it. Don't make excuses to dawdle.
3. Resist "procrastination thinking. " Don't get distracted by things that suddenly come up. So, when a friend invites you to go on a road trip on the day you're supposed to get a lot of writing done, you should resist the urge to use the romanticized adage, "Carpe diem," to justify ditching your responsibilities.
As for my mother, I'd like to tell her that she doesn't really need to feel guilty about not doing that much anymore. Her to-do lists were only somewhat useful when she had to manage a household that had six kids, five or so hamsters, and a couple of dogs. (It's time to take it easy, mom. You've earned the right to procrastinate.)
Comments
Or, you could look at lists as the 2nd step to "manifesting your desires". First step is to think your desire, 2nd is to put it on paper, making ready for Providence to move in once you've set the intention. Sort of like, "in the beginning was the Word..." How do we know if it was spoken or written, eh? Ha!
i'm one to make lists of things to do , But i never try to conquer it all in one day or week .As the list is completed one at a time i check them off . If i miss some oh well there is always another day to do it. After all it's not going away and it won't do it's self , So relaxe read a book in a hot tub , or go for a nice long walk to clear the webs of lists you alone have created.
Simpleology 101 - isn't procrastination non-existent. For example, you are always either deciding to do something that gets you closer to your goal or further from your goal.
I think by far the single most important aspect to overcoming procrastination is to understand the secret purpose that it serves.
It's one of those things that is easy to overlook, but all negative, self-sabotaging behaviors serve a very definite -- albeit unseen -- purpose.
In the case of procrastination, it feeds the universal addiction to the unending pursuit of "brighter tomorrows." All procrastination delivers a very strong "hit" of emotional promise each time I imagine "what I will eventually accomplish one day."
To end the addiction to procrastination, I must end the pursuit of brighter tomorrows. They go hand-in-hand... which means you can't keep one and drop the other. Both have to go.
I find a "MUST DO", rather than a "TO DO", list quite helpful on busy/crazy days. It helps prioritize.
You're right...I'm a list crreator and procrastinator all wrapped up in one body. It's difficult to overcome but I am successful sometimes. I have to keep reminding myself of the tasks ahead of me and not to waste too much time making the list. Any further suggestions would be appreciated! Rick
I'm a huge fan of to do lists--they work for me by reminding me what I need to do.
I may not always be able to do everything on the list, but I get it done by the end of the week. (If I forced myself to do everything on the list everyday, I'd be disappointed most of the time!)
do list is positive ,guilt feeling negative, fix priority and be flexible is golden mean
The greatest thinker of all times P.R.Sarkar says, 'Procrastination is the enemy of prosperity'.
He has given effective methods to overcome the tendency to procrastinate.
Do-list does not find a mention anywhere. However, a do-list is fine as long as it does not overlook the limitations of time and other constraints. If it leaves sufficient elbow room, it wont't be an obsession. Otherwise, it is bound to be compulsive nurosis.
I love this website
It makes me smile
Hi
To do list can be a bid hurdle to get over procrastination habit. Because if the list gets pilling up you get demotivated to go ahead. Instead if you have a small list out of big list say 7 tasks at a time and you resolve to move to next tasks after completing these 7 tasks; the strategy can work wonders.
now the second part is encouraging yourself to do more and more tasks. The simplest way is to make a list of works that you have completed. A growing list of completed tasks will give you more confidence to do things earlier than later. So instead of having to-do list have a have-done list. it helps!
abhishek
when I have plenty of tasks to do at work or at home, I get myself organized by writing a to do list. It helps my brain to think. And then it helps my eyes to see what else is missing in the to do list.When the to do list is done, all I need to do is to look at it from time to time. I do not need to memorize the tasks to do. They are already written up in my list. It relieves a lot of stress. It reminds me to take action.Whatever is not done goes to the list for the next day.Fortunately not all of them go to the
next day's list.
cheers. ruby
I use a to do list, but I call it my "Want to do." I thought the slight change in wording would removed the "have-to-do" mentality of a typical "To do list."
The result has been quite amazing. I even got the fridge cleaned the other day. I had managed to moved it from my have-to-do to my want-to-do. That's when I finally felt like doing it!
Nick
Hi
Part of me agrees with your notion that we can get carried away by our to do lists -- but part of me sees the necessity for such lists! When we become obsessive about them we have a problem but that's a different issue!
For those of us who are of advancing years and still have a hugely busy life with different kinds of commitments, to do lists aren't about preventing procrastination but more of a way of preventing forgetting!
Writing lists is a well-known technique to successfully achieve your goals and it is a well-known technique to prevent forgetting essential things.
Jeanne May
i feel very good and so much joy to work with the imagine lot of fun , i eager every moment to face simpleology.
i hope at that any moment i will be millioner person.
thanks and regard
Sanjay lade
I used to write tons of lists and they would make me crazy... often I would loose the lists, and then have to start all over again... realizing that I was spending alot of time not accomplishing anything on the lists, but rather just writing and rewriting them... I finally wrote them all down on the computer, and organized them... crafts to do/ yard stuff/books to read/house/etc. I also got a special notebook so I could print them out (sometimes I loose track of the notebook still)... now I find that while my list is large (7 pages!) I am no longer loosing it or wasting time rewriting it. new things generally fit into those categories, and while there are numerous categories, there are only so many, and I feel SLIGHTLY less overwhelmed. Since they are now organzied it's easier to focus on the first ones and not spend so much time fretting about the others.
hope this helps somebody!
to-do list master
I'm ashamed to say that until I took Simpleology 101, my To-Do list was rarely finished ... through Daily Target Praxis (DTP) there are now worthwhile results rather than just ticking off a list
Making lists helps in having you remember things to do or choose not to do for the time being depending on the situation, thus comes in the procrastinating after which we forget what we had on that list. Only until sometime later when I come across my own list, it surprises me that I even had that item on my list in the first place and wonder about how I could have actually considered it, especially when there's a tick mark beside it. So whether or not it bothers me, or encourages me, the thing is that it's (been)there on the list.
a few comments..
i found using a web based to-do list manager http://www.rememberthemilk.com
massively helpful in getting things done.
light yeats ahead compared to using pen and paper based method.
this service can be used web-based or with iphone or blackberry, with firefox, pc taskbar, with your google etc etc
sure there are other similar service out there.
but from my research this one is suits me best. and obviously others agree coz an article in lifehacker says its the most widely used online service for to-do list mgmt.
another comment i like to make is that this sort of service can be used to help develop habits (or kick one). in that it has a feature to repeat an item at selected intervals eg daily weekly.
so say you wanna develop the simpleology habits or praxis, you can input it whatever it is and you can have it repeated daily. as sorta automatic habit formation or developer.
and i barely scratching the surface here.
personally i find to do list and service like rtm really helps me to kick the procratination habit, help me monitor my habits, help develop good habits, help to prioritize (this is a big one), help develop disipline etc etc
now its sits permanently on my desktop on internet explorer while i do stuff usiing firefox.
its the only online application i have open ALL the time.
if you are familiar with the concept, you can use this with the David Allen's principle of GTD (getting things done).
and no i'm not geting paid by rtm.com to say all this :)
o yeah the service is free.
ok enough of this.. i better get some things done!
I personally like "to do" lists. I find that I feel focused and that I enjoy each task more than when I am doing one and thinking about another. I used to abuse myself with exhausting lists and then I would give up the system. Now, I try to be more reasonable and use it to be more present to each task.
That was a timely article - thankyou.
I find that to do lists will create extra work for me and it too will take me away from the priorities at times.
But I do have to admit, if I do complete a priority task, without distraction, and then get to 'tick it off', I do feel good about it, and like eating pizza, i'm not changing that for aynyone - feeling good is what it's all about!
Well,Bean, great article! Here's my 2 cents feedback, though. Ever since I implement 'To-do-list' daily, in my work place, I realized how tremendous I could perform my duties and responsibilities. I have decided on the spot important tasks I have to accomplish. At the end of business hours, I reviewed those tasks accomplished and I measured 1 - 10 my performance. Most of the accomplished task I give myself a 10, and those not yet done, but still on the process, I scored 5, and those not done but have to wait for the next day, I keep them reserved for the next day, of course. And honestly, my boss had noticed my accomplishments and when our Performance Evaluation came, he gave me Outstanding marks. And our company recently had given our Performance bonus and I get a six months salary bonus. Thanks to my 'Daily To-Do-List!
Mengz A. Estolano, Riyadh, KSA