Peace of Mind Organizing

The value of the to-do list

30 September 2008

Yesterday I blogged about how I couldn’t get anything done. The basic culprit was fatigue from attending back-to-back conferences and sleep deprivation from a needy poodle. But after a good night’s sleep and a little reflection, I identified another reason for yesterday’s lack of focus: I didn’t have a to-do list.

As I’ve blogged about before, I’m a follower of Mark Forster’s Do It Tomorrow method of time management. (Link to his book at right.) Among other things, he advocates a daily “will-do list,” one that contains only the things you actually plan to accomplish that day.

The crazy thing about time management systems and human nature is that when you need it most—that is, when you are crazy busy—you tend to ignore your time management system. That’s what happens with me. I’ve been traveling, going to conferences, and having relatively little control over my time, so I haven’t bothered with creating a daily task list. What I really needed yesterday, my first at-my-desk workday in a week and a half, was a really good, realistic to-do list. I did have a scribbled semblance of one, created at the NSGCD conference, but it related only to things that occurred to me as I listened to talks.

So today I shared some quality time with my task diary. I leave on Friday for eleven days of travel (two trips with a roughly 12-hour stint at home in between), so I really needed some time for reflection. My fear is that my lists for the next three days aren’t short enough to be realistic, but if I can keep control of my day, I have a fighting chance of getting done what needs to be done.

The key will be consult and modify the list each day. Wish me luck!

Tagged with: mark forster, productivity, time management, to-do list

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