The Office
To do or not to do? How to get lists under control
TO-DO completing lists. them, Many or of evenus make rememberingthem but whereA friendwe put who them, workedis anotheras a counsellormatter. for 40 years says she kept lists – not of things she had to do but of things she had already done. Then she ticked them off. “It gave me enormous satisfaction,” she says.
Conversely, Sydney-based psychotherapist Mary Doyle says not doing everything on a list can lead to a sense of failure. “If you’re unrealistic about how many items you put on the list, it becomes overwhelming and you fail to live up to what you ought to have done. So you don’t do anything; you play Solitaire instead.” Her advice is to tackle the hardest task first. If you start with all the easy ones, chances are you’ll carry over the one essential task until the next day and then it may never get done. Lists can turn abstract goals into solid work. But, as psychologist Abigail Sutherland points out, “Their efficacy is dependent on how we use them and what magical powers we imbue them with. For example, writing a action, remindernot an on outcomea Post-it notein itself.is an It interim doesn’t jumpthe task up, for remindme.” me and then complete
find We’vethat theall turned informationup to wea meeting,need is stuckonly to to As thea reminder computer tool, screen Post-it back notesat the only office. work if you But remembertaking 15 them. minutes at the end of the day order to of write priority down for a tomorrow well-thought-outcan help list within time management. “Listing our thoughts, intentions and plans allows us to reflect on how we focus our time and energy versus having thoughts and ideas rattle around in our heads,” says Sutherland.
And the busier we are, the more helpful it is to keep a running agenda. Because we can’t always remember every detail, lists can be a useful way to externalise what’s in our heads, says Damian Birney, a senior lecturer at The University of Sydney who is researching working memory, fluid intelligence and cognitive flexibility. “Our working memory is very important because it allows us to hold, manipulate and comprehend things and keep track of conversations then call on them when we need them.” But working memory can get clogged by trivial disruptions – perhaps lingering thoughts that we’ve forgotten something – that can interfere with the processing of information. Our working memory is limited and anything that disrupts that process is not good. “Lists can free up our cognitive resources to allow us to be more effective,” says Birney. “They can provide a structure. Otherwise we end up with a whole heap of Post-it notes and need a list to know which to attend to first.” There are dozens of task-management software programs to help organise your workload. Things (culturedcode.com), for example, breaks down multiple tasks, while Jolt (joltup.com) signals when an item on your list is overdue. But beware: the list-making process can become an end in itself. “The trap people can fall into is feeling that they’ve done something because they’ve made a list,” says Birney.
Lists can increase productivity but it’s best to have a hierarchy of tasks and to prioritise jobs in order of importance and due date. And if that to-do list isn’t knocked over within a couple of weeks, chances are it never will be.