12 Steps to a Recovered To-Do List - Christine Kane

At a recent party, I was talking with a friend when a guy stepped up to chat with her. An intense conversation about software followed. I interrupted to ask him, “What do you do?”

He glanced at me and said, with no small hint of pride, “I’m a Productivity Evangelist.”

I’ll admit it. I almost laughed. I had to bite my lip so as not to spit out my wine.

In spite of the New Media use of the word “Evangelist” to describe anyone who promotes anything, it’s still a word I associate with, well, evangelists. I could see him clad in white robe and sandals marching along city sidewalks carrying a sign painted with the words, “Get More Done.”

So, here’s something I want you to know about me:

I’m not a Productivity Evangelist.

In fact, I’d like you to think about your To-Do List in a whole new light. Not just as a chronicle of crap to get done.

Think of your To-Do List, instead, as a training ground.

Since many of us have become codependents of drug addicted To-Do lists, then this idea may sound a little unproductive. But hear me out.

Your To-Do List can serve two purposes. The first purpose is to guide your actions. The second purpose also happens to be step #2 in the 12-Steps to a Recovered To-Do List. (Step 1 was in the last post.)

To-Do List Recovery Step #2: Make your list a training ground for success

Many of us literally spend our days failing as we try to keep up with an external idea of “productivity.” Even when we do complete every item on our list, we rarely feel satisfied. There’s always more to do.

When your To-Do List becomes a place where you train yourself how to win, you build momentum, rather than always trying to keep up. You train yourself to succeed by asking yourself what’s important to you. You train yourself to succeed by asking less of yourself and actually getting items done. You train your brain to get used to the feeling of accomplishment, rather than the habitual feeling of never enough. Amazingly, you’ll discover that you’re actually energized. You’ll even generate a feeling of self-trust, perhaps for the first time.

To-Do List Recovery Step #3: Let your intentions guide your To-Do List

An intention is not the same thing as a To-Do. An intention guides your To-Do’s. Intention is the big picture. (Like, the word you chose for this year.)

When you create a To-Do list, the first thing to remember is your intention. This will help you recognize the items that contribute to that intention, and those that don’t.

To-Do List Recovery Step #4: Start a Sunday evening ritual

Now, this is not a “Light candles and chant the Moolah-Mantra” ritual. This is just 10 minutes to ask yourself one question:

What are my three top priorities this week?

Limit it to three. More than three just creates Attention Splatter.

To-Do List Recovery Step #5: Make a Brain-Drain List

Some of us have Chronologic Depth Perception Illness, or CDPI. (Yes, I made this up.) CDPI means that you think of something to do, and even if it doesn’t need to be dealt with until, say, Christmas of 2010, it remains at the forefront of your brain, along with all of your other To-Do’s. There it is, needing to be done. Now. So, you put it on your To-Do list because you don’t trust that you’ll get it done unless it occupies your mind.

Enter the Brain-Drain List. A Brain-Drain List is where you simply write down every To-Do that comes to mind. From the big stuff (Write an eBook) to the little stuff (get my oil changed). A brain drain list is a place where you can put every last To-Do so you can empty your brain. You will then be able to think more clearly about your priorities.

This brings me to the Three P’s of To-Do List Creation:

To-Do List Recovery Step #6: Prioritize

This is so simple that it’s easy to forget. What is your first priority? What is most important on your list? (Important isn’t always “urgent.”) Ask yourself how important each item is to you. Let go of the ones that don’t matter (i.e., most of them).

To-Do List Recovery Step #7: Parameterize

Parameters put borders around any item that’s vague. (i.e., a writing project, an organizing project, any creative endeavor.) Assign start times and end times. Or set a goal of how much (i.e., 3 pages, 2 drawers, one verse). This way you’ll know when you’re done for the day. Otherwise, you’ll convince yourself that you haven’t done anything.

To-Do List Recovery Step #8: Pay-off

The best question to ask yourself about each To-Do Item is this: If this were the only thing I accomplished today, would I be happy with that? What is the pay-off if I do this?

To-Do List Recovery Step #9: Busyness is laziness

The Benzedrine To-Do List looks quite impressive to its creator. It lends itself to an inflated sense of self-importance. “Look at all I have to do!” This is actually lazy thinking. It covers up the fact that you don’t have the presence to sit still and define the most important (not necessarily the most urgent) things that you want to do.

To-Do List Recovery Step #10: Task it Down

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid To-Do List is a fine list of dreams to have. But the part of you that is not hallucinating needs to know how to start. It needs to break those big jobs into small do-able tasks. This is another great way for your To-Do List to become a training ground. You learn how to take a dream and make it into reality. So, if you want to sell your home, the first thing on the To-Do List would be: “Call three Realtors.” Or, “Clean out the crap in the basement for one hour.”

To-Do List Recovery Step #11: Honor your style

Some people can focus on a task and get it done in 3 hours of straight work. Some need more time to putter before they can start a project. Some people need deadlines to propel them into getting something done. Everyone is different. Honoring your style is important. Not everyone can be a Productivity Evangelist. I, for one, am a big proponent of moodling and taking long quiet walks before any act of focused creativity. Everyone has different styles.

To-Do List Recovery Step #12: Know what matters to you

This post was supposed to be up yesterday.

Know why it wasn’t?

Because instead of writing, I spent the day watching the nest by my front door to see if the baby wrens were going to fly away.

I blew off my To-Do list to watch them. I felt a little guilty and overwhelmed at the end of the day. But in the moment, I was completely present and absorbed. (They flew. It was profound.) This kind of thing matters to me more than New Media and yes, more than Productivity Evangelists.

Knowing what matters to you will guide you on those days when Life Happens. Maybe baby birds are taking flight. Maybe your daughter has a cold. Maybe your best friend is having a hard time and you take her to dinner. And maybe your inner Productivity Evangelist is holding up signs that say, “You’re disappointing us all!”

That’s okay. He’s probably on drugs too.

23 COMMENTS ADD A COMMENT
  • Christine Kane

    Thanks everyone! It’s funny how many people wrote about the birds! My friend Kathy says that it’s one of those experiences that no one would understand unless they witnessed it for themselves, too.

  • Patricia

    My friend and I call it “being bizzzy”, like all those people out there being so bizzzy joining this and going to that and at the end of the day, what have they got?
    Christine, you are a breath of fresh air. Hm, maaybe it’s time I went outside and enjoyed some.

  • iletitgo

    There is nothing more important than watching baby birds learn to fly! I’m sure you haven’t regretted it. That kind of joy and delight will remain a positive memory to pop into your mind at times when you need gentle reminders of what it takes to learn to fly yourself. The pay off.) Last summer I spent a good deal of time watching some baby birds growing in a nest in a park gazebo. My 4th of July morning was spent watching and waiting in anticipation in case the baby birds flew away that day. They did, and I saw them do it–it was thrilling! I never saw them again after that. I would have been heart broken to see them grow up, and miss out on their big day. It is some of those simple things that can’t wait, but cleaning toilets, paper work, etc. can wait.

    I also am reminded of one of your blog posting about making sure your to-do list has only 2 items on it. That has been a very helpful concept for me. Keep up the great posts!

  • Sue

    If the least I did was pay attention to #12, it would bring so much clarity to the whole list-mania! Thanks for a great post!!!! 🙂

  • Pat K.

    My husband and I have raised finches. The babies are smaller than your thumbnail all curled up. Since we didn’t have wings and could not teach them to fly, we watched as they just practiced flapping their new wings really hard for a few minutes at a time, often during the day. This happens about a week before fledging. What the parent bird does is encourage them to fly to them so they learn to fly up, down, over, back to the parents. It’s pretty amazing. The babies are just programmed to fly on their own. That’s the cool part! The same can be said about nest building abilities. 🙂

    Thanks for the great ideas on list making.

  • Diane

    I can spend hours watching birds and drinking coffee! Do you have cardinals in NC? They built a nest in one of my hanging baskets. I just realized I don’t ever have to put something I love to do on a list…nice feeling.

  • Deb

    I have unsubscribed to blogs/websites whose primary purpose is to yammer about productivity. One, it’s a myth (just like the efficiency experts from the old school). Two, I was usually offended by the choice of photo; which on one productivity site tends to feature one or more skimpily clad females in a compromising pose (what does that have to do with productivity?)

    I try to do something everyday that is valuable to my life.

  • Michelle

    I Love these posts and I can’t wait to come to one of your retreats later this year and gobble up all of your wonderful ideas. This post – specifically one pharse of this post – the habitual feeling of never enough – spawned a whole post of my own on a similar but very different topic – thanks for being inspiring!

    http://www.smoochdog12.com/2008/05/habitual-state-of-never-enough.html

  • Nathalie Lussier

    This is very profound and such a great way to look at things. I have been reading a lot of productivity evangelist type of blogs lately, but your post just knocks them all out of the water.

    Thanks for the tips I don’t feel bad that I spent my afternoon trouble shooting my mom’s computer instead of doing my own work, because her happiness matters.

  • Kasie@~The Art of Life~

    Sorry to post twice but I thought I’d mention something that I’ve been trying lately. It’s Life Balance software by Llamagraphics. I’ve been using it on my Palm pilot and I’m really loving it. It allows me to “drain brain” and empty out all of my to-dos. It also allows me to set dates on things so they only show up on my list when I want them to. But what I like the most about the software is that it shows your priorities in a pie graph and lets you visually see where you’re spending your time. I promise that I don’t work for them, lol!! It’s just been helpful for me. I’ve been focusing more on how the tasks I do fit into my overall priorities.

  • Kasie@~The Art of Life~

    Thanks for the great post Christine. I really needed it today. I think I have an inner “Productivity Evangelist” who tries to run the show. I’ve been slowly learning how to replace that task-master with the calmer voice of living with intention.
    And I actually am taking care of a sick daughter today so this came at the perfect time.

  • Christine Kane

    Irene & Elaine – I saw the parents and the baby birds this morning. They’re still taking flight lessons. (And my cats are still not allowed to go outside!)

    Colin – with all that wine you’re drinking — are you sure you’re not Catholic???? Sounds like the Jesuits I used to hang out with at BC.

  • Colin

    CK,
    Great, just when the Church was making inroads into some of the responses to the term ‘evangelist’ as a stereotype, this productivity guy shows up! Whaddayagonnado? I believe that my first instinct to his unfortunate nomenclature would have been to immediatley swill my wine, his wine, and the wine of whoever else you were talking to,the wine in the refrigerator…etc, etc. I think I’ll start calling myself an ‘Apostolic Swami’. Anyway, thanks for the laugh and be careful what kind of parties you go to, eh?
    Colin

  • Elaine

    Thank you another great post – I’ve got some areas to work on here!

    How are the wrens doing?! I hope they’re ‘holding their own’ in the big world! You’ll have to post a wren update!

    I bet it was wonderful to actually watch them leave the nest! I rescued a baby house martin last year when their nest fell from our roof (just in time as my cats were showing an interest!). 3 babies died in the fall but I managed to keep the little guy a live by killing flies in the garden and feeding him (my neighbours are used to me!) T took him to a local wildlife rescue centre where he successfully fledged.

  • Irene

    Thank you Christine you made my day.
    I am glad you watch the baby birds instead of the to do list. I laugh so hard I thought I would fall off my chair. Now I truly understand why I stay away from to do list. I am stress free. I do what needs to be done and the rest can wait until tomorrow, the day after and so on. As mags/woo-woo wisdom you are an Intention Angel.
    Have a wonderful day.

  • Joy

    excellent post. you address some issues that time management experts don’t.

    re: step 11. some people like to create order or beauty in their space before starting a project. i’m one of those.

    more and more as i practice presence i find my natural touchstone for activity is “what matters most.”

    mokana, christine is a “hoot in person” all her friends would agree.

  • Christine Kane

    Thanks everyone! Mimi – as for a system, it might be that you don’t NEED an actual system. I’ve never worked well with a system — especially because I travel and the days change a lot. I’ve found that each person has to adapt the ideas of others to come up with their own “system.” There’s no one-size-fits-all process. (Go check out Peggi’s link! quite a worksheet!)

  • Peggi Habets

    Hi Christine,
    Great post as usual! I love the “Electric Kool-Aid Acid” list, very funny. For me, I find that balance is crucial. With 3 kids, a husband, a child with special needs, and an art career, I often get pulled way out of balance trying to cover all the bases. I came up with a daily worksheet (can see it here: http://habets-studio.blogspot.com/2008/04/great-big-balancing-act.html)that helps me schedule time for not only my family and my art, but schedule time for me as well. At the end of the day, I look it over and see that, okay, maybe I didn’t clean that disgusting toilet yet, but hey, I did remember to pick up the kids AND made dinner AND finished a painting AND meditated. The toilet can wait.

  • Tammy Lenski

    Christine, you may not have spit your wine but I almost did my morning coffee! Thanks for the morning guffaw.

    Your point about busy-ness not being productivity really resonates with me. I hear people say things like, “I can’t do that, I’m too busy to fit another thing in,” and I think to myself sometimes, “No, you’re choosing one thing over another. That’s fine and reasonable. But don’t blame it on being busy.”

  • Ariff

    LOL.

    Your articles on to do lists are just too funny, if only because it’s true.

    I think maybe we need to start some support group, like Alcoholics Anonymous, but for people with more than 30 things on their to do list.

  • Mags | Woo-Woo Wisdom

    Aw, I’m glad you decided to watch the babies fly yesterday. What an incredibly beautiful and momentous thing to experience.

    Thanks for these tips, Christine. You’re definitely not a Productivity Evangelist – more like an Intention Angel, I think 🙂

  • Mindful Mimi

    Christine,
    Great post again. I usually get the things done that are on my list. And I usually feel happy about it. I just can’t seem to find a system to write them down. Sometimes I think of something to do and write it in my agenda. Then I start a list at home next to the shopping list of things that need repairing at home. When at work I think about calling this or that person and write it on another piece of paper. I decided I’d use a little booklet that I carry around in my purse. Well, it’s still empty 😉
    Do you have THE system solution? The physical solution (not the getting it all mentally organised)?

  • MOKANA

    You crack me up. I bet you are a hoot in person. Maybe one day you will perform on the west coast and I can buy a ticket and see the show. YOu need a column in a daily newspaper. Kane’s Column, There you go. And why not? Some have to read a newspaper column every day and why not yours! ! !