Scenario: "Dude, let's tack another item on our to-do list. We'll finish them someday. High-five!"
You know the deal:
- You start a to-do list.
- You put 908532502 things on the to-do list.
- You get overwhelmed.
- You start avoiding your to-do list.
Your productivity? Drainage.
Though you'll tackle those entries "someday", you'll either:
- Procrastinate until some looming threat gets you to do it.
- Never do it.
The solution?
Shrink your to-do list to bite-sized, manageable entries -- and see your productivity soar like a flying hyena high on chicken wings.
Say NO! to Too Much
Complexity prevents you from working.
It's like Bo Schmuck Climber staring at Mount Kilimanjaro -- instead of jumping onto the vicious mountain of tasks, he waits, and waits, and waits for the perfect time (that just never comes).
With an enormous to-do list:
- You know you'll have to accomplish vicious mountains of tasks.
- But the fear of failure scares you from doing anything.
- You start avoiding your tasks, waiting for the "perfect time."
Result: Your productivity drains.
Keep Your To-Do Lists Small
Small to-do lists prevents you from overwhelming yourself.
(Also, when it gets too big, you know you're spending more time on your to-do list than actually working.)
Instead of increasing self-doubts, manageable lists increase your self-confidence:
- "This is very manageable!"
- "Simple, I can do this."
- "No sweat. Piece of cake."
- "I'm gonna chase down this to-do-list-mutha-*&^%$#, and beat it into submission."
Manageable to-do lists drive you toward action, now.
Eliminate Junk
Twenty-percent of your to-do tasks contains 80% importance.
Most tasks dilute what should really get your concentration. Eliminate those suckas.
Or, maybe better:
Defer It!
Ba-da-bing!
Your main to-do list lets you concentrate on what (1) you can do now, and (2) what's most important.
Your deferred list gives you a:
- "Hmm. Someday, I'd like to get this done -- but not now -- since it ain't so important yet."
You'll start kicking-booty-and-taking-names by filtering out the most important from the less important.
Manageable To-Do Lists = Krr-aa-zzz-y Sex-aay
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Doesn't matter
Posted @ 04:25 PM on July 11, 2007
Who are you? Put up a bio or something.