Comments on: Overwhelmed by Your To-Do List? Go With a ‘Will-Do’ List Instead. http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/ Exploring ways to use our minds efficiently. Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:55:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Mark Forster http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12139 Mark Forster Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:59:59 +0000 http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12139 Francis Yes, you're pretty well on track! One point I like to emphasize is that work doesn't appear from nowhere. It comes from the commitments that we have entered into. Therefore if we find that we are unable to keep up with our work, we need to audit our commitments. It's at this level that work should be prioritized, not at the task level. And when prioritizing our commitments, there's basically only one question: "Should I be doing this at all?" Francis

Yes, you’re pretty well on track!

One point I like to emphasize is that work doesn’t appear from nowhere. It comes from the commitments that we have entered into.

Therefore if we find that we are unable to keep up with our work, we need to audit our commitments. It’s at this level that work should be prioritized, not at the task level. And when prioritizing our commitments, there’s basically only one question: “Should I be doing this at all?”

]]> By: Francis Wade http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12124 Francis Wade Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:57:38 +0000 http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12124 Mark - This resonates with me. After all, work "coming in" only turns into work because I make a decision that turns a prompt of some kind (e.g. email) into an actual demand on my time. When I make too many commitments to get things done today, I guarantee my failure. The same applies to commitments that I make for tomorrow, or next week, or next month. In my experience, the best way I have found is to use a schedule, as whenever I tried to use a list in isolation, I discovered that it didn't have enough information to make it useful (e.g. such as its duration.) It sounds as if you are attacking the false urgency created by "now" and "at once' and encouraging users to tap into the time they have ahead of them in the following day, week, month, year, etc. Am I on track here? Mark - This resonates with me. After all, work “coming in” only turns into work because I make a decision that turns a prompt of some kind (e.g. email) into an actual demand on my time.

When I make too many commitments to get things done today, I guarantee my failure. The same applies to commitments that I make for tomorrow, or next week, or next month.

In my experience, the best way I have found is to use a schedule, as whenever I tried to use a list in isolation, I discovered that it didn’t have enough information to make it useful (e.g. such as its duration.)

It sounds as if you are attacking the false urgency created by “now” and “at once’ and encouraging users to tap into the time they have ahead of them in the following day, week, month, year, etc.

Am I on track here?

]]> By: Luciano Passuello http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12114 Luciano Passuello Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:24:54 +0000 http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12114 It’s great to have you here, Mark! I really appreciate your thoughtful comment. The point you make about failing to catch up after a short period of time is key. When I started using will-do lists, I tried way too hard to achieve 100% completeness, every day. I was set for failure from the start. Then, to avoid the recurrent feeling of failure, I became too conservative and put too few items on my lists. Now I know both approaches are ineffective — and your comment makes this clear for other readers. You should still aim for 100%, yes, but on a larger horizon of analysis. A week works great for me as such time frame (as I can use part of my weekly review to analyze my will-do lists and take action). It’s great to have you here, Mark! I really appreciate your thoughtful comment.

The point you make about failing to catch up after a short period of time is key.

When I started using will-do lists, I tried way too hard to achieve 100% completeness, every day. I was set for failure from the start. Then, to avoid the recurrent feeling of failure, I became too conservative and put too few items on my lists.
Now I know both approaches are ineffective — and your comment makes this clear for other readers.

You should still aim for 100%, yes, but on a larger horizon of analysis. A week works great for me as such time frame (as I can use part of my weekly review to analyze my will-do lists and take action).

]]> By: Mark Forster http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12069 Mark Forster Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:23:13 +0000 http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12069 Francis, the key word here is average. What I recommend in "Do It Tomorrow" is that the incoming work each day should be put off to the following day (except for stuff that really needs to be done the same day). So in an ideal world all the work coming in on one day would either be done the same day (if urgent) or done the following day (the default). You will see by what I have said that the Will Do list is not a selection but a collection. You do not attempt to select or prioritise it (other than the today/tomorrow urgency) Of course in the real world the amount of work that comes in each day is going to vary from day to day, and the amount of time you have to complete it is going to vary too. However the amount of work you complete each day must equal the amount of incoming work ON AVERAGE - otherwise you are going to fall behind. What I recommend in the book is that you aim to complete the Will Do list each day, but don't get too worried if some items get carried over to the next day. However if you fail to catch up (i.e. complete ALL the due items) after a fairly short period (4 days or so) then you should analyze why in the way Alex has summarised, and do something about it. Francis, the key word here is average. What I recommend in “Do It Tomorrow” is that the incoming work each day should be put off to the following day (except for stuff that really needs to be done the same day).

So in an ideal world all the work coming in on one day would either be done the same day (if urgent) or done the following day (the default).

You will see by what I have said that the Will Do list is not a selection but a collection. You do not attempt to select or prioritise it (other than the today/tomorrow urgency)

Of course in the real world the amount of work that comes in each day is going to vary from day to day, and the amount of time you have to complete it is going to vary too. However the amount of work you complete each day must equal the amount of incoming work ON AVERAGE - otherwise you are going to fall behind.

What I recommend in the book is that you aim to complete the Will Do list each day, but don’t get too worried if some items get carried over to the next day. However if you fail to catch up (i.e. complete ALL the due items) after a fairly short period (4 days or so) then you should analyze why in the way Alex has summarised, and do something about it.

]]> By: Francis Wade http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12059 Francis Wade Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:13:41 +0000 http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12059 That makes me think that I should read the book as I can't see the correlation between a given day of email and the next day's schedule... That makes me think that I should read the book as I can’t see the correlation between a given day of email and the next day’s schedule…

]]> By: Luciano Passuello http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12058 Luciano Passuello Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:30:23 +0000 http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12058 <strong>Francis</strong>: Yes. In average, you should get no more than one day worth of work in your inbox each day. Otherwise, you’ll be getting into an ever-growing backlog of tasks. That's the main point in Mark's book <em>Do It Tomorrow</em>. Hope it makes sense. Francis: Yes. In average, you should get no more than one day worth of work in your inbox each day. Otherwise, you’ll be getting into an ever-growing backlog of tasks. That’s the main point in Mark’s book Do It Tomorrow.
Hope it makes sense.

]]> By: Luciano Passuello http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12057 Luciano Passuello Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:28:50 +0000 http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12057 <strong>Alex</strong>: Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I agree with you; I also think that the relationship between input and output is the main point in Mark’s book. My original intention with the article was not to be thorough, however — thinking in retrospect — I should indeed have made that point in the article. In fact, the in/out flow of tasks is such an important topic that I think it deserves a full article to itself. <strong>Thanks for pointing it out!</strong> Alex: Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
I agree with you; I also think that the relationship between input and output is the main point in Mark’s book. My original intention with the article was not to be thorough, however — thinking in retrospect — I should indeed have made that point in the article.
In fact, the in/out flow of tasks is such an important topic that I think it deserves a full article to itself. Thanks for pointing it out!

]]> By: Francis Wade http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12046 Francis Wade Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:31:47 +0000 http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12046 Alex: Hmmm.. I haven't read the book, but is there an implicit assumption that incoming items should fit into tomorrow's 8 hour day? I may not be understanding your comment... Alex: Hmmm.. I haven’t read the book, but is there an implicit assumption that incoming items should fit into tomorrow’s 8 hour day?

I may not be understanding your comment…

]]> By: Alex http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12035 Alex Sat, 12 Jul 2008 22:59:56 +0000 http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12035 I think that the original article (which is a nice read otherwise) and the comments completely miss the crucial point of Mark Forster's book: It's the balance between incoming and outgoing work. The book is called "Do it Tomorrow" (DIT) for a reason. You're supposed to put all today's incoming work on tomorrow's 'will-do' list and keep up with those 'will-do' lists (on average). If you can't, you're supposed to analyze the reasons why: Working inefficiently? Too little time? Too much work? And then you have to correct the reasons, which for the latter reason (too much work) means to cut down your commitments. That's the real 'objective metric of accomplishment' in DIT. And that's exactly what GTD doesn't have. Oh, and it's much simpler that scheduling your day 'to death'. I think that the original article (which is a nice read otherwise) and the comments completely miss the crucial point of Mark Forster’s book:
It’s the balance between incoming and outgoing work. The book is called “Do it Tomorrow” (DIT) for a reason. You’re supposed to put all today’s incoming work on tomorrow’s ‘will-do’ list and keep up with those ‘will-do’ lists (on average). If you can’t, you’re supposed to analyze the reasons why: Working inefficiently? Too little time? Too much work? And then you have to correct the reasons, which for the latter reason (too much work) means to cut down your commitments. That’s the real ‘objective metric of accomplishment’ in DIT. And that’s exactly what GTD doesn’t have. Oh, and it’s much simpler that scheduling your day ‘to death’.

]]> By: ella http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12030 ella Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:45:08 +0000 http://litemind.com/will-do-lists/#comment-12030 Great Discussion. I found this article very informative and at the same time motivational. As a virtual assistant, i do have a seemingly endless lists of to do's daily. And honestly it gets too overwhelming that at somepoint I just wanted to stop. I liked how you reiterated doing things "wholeheartedly". I guess that makes a big difference. Now I am seeking different tools to organize my life. Just want to share I also found this great online tool for goal setting that might help: www.impactfulactions.com. Great Discussion. I found this article very informative and at the same time motivational. As a virtual assistant, i do have a seemingly endless lists of to do’s daily. And honestly it gets too overwhelming that at somepoint I just wanted to stop. I liked how you reiterated doing things “wholeheartedly”. I guess that makes a big difference.
Now I am seeking different tools to organize my life. Just want to share I also found this great online tool for goal setting that might help: http://www.impactfulactions.com.

]]>