In Defense of To-Do Lists
Thought after reading the book “The One Thing” by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
I first saw the book “The One Thing” in bookstore and thought it is an interesting book, then I borrowed it from library and finished it within a couple of hours. After I read it from back to back, I still think it is a good book, just not a great book, mainly because it lacks the core ingredient that makes book great, which is an original idea. To give an example, I called “The Effective executive” by Peter Drucker a great book. Even the ideas in Mr. Drucker book are also not so original, but he was the first one to clearly explain and emphases them, just like Machiavelli and his book “The Prince”.
Enough comments about the book, which should be done in another article. Let me talk about one chapter in the book that offends me, which give birth to this article. The chapter is titled “Everything matters equally” which spent quite a few pages criticizing to-do lists and people who use them. This is not the first book that criticize to-do lists, but for a to-do lists believer like me, this chapter becomes the needle that breaks camel’s back.
I am one of those people who use to-do lists in their everyday lives religiously and think they are time saver, energy saver and both efficiency and effectiveness boosters. Anyone, any books that criticize to-do lists and people who like using them deserves being criticized back :-}
Allow me to begin.
First, let me define what I mean by to-do lists. The best way to define it is to give an example. Below is an excerpt from my to-do lists, or see title image above.
-2571. pay lunch money for two.
2572. Update release wiki
-2573. Finish Gerrit reviews ( 3 )
2574. tire pressure too low
-2575. reply piano teacher
2576. EOD email estimate
2577. 8/8 Meet the teacher
2578. No log in QA servers
First question, my dear readers might ask is “What ? you put to-do items for your work and your family in the same lists”. Yes, sir. I do. I like keep all my to-do items in same list. Not only that, once a to-do item is added to the to-do list, I never delete it. Once it is done, I add a dash “-” in front of it to mark it as complete. They are something I have to do within same day or pretty soon. They keep any requests, any communications from any of my colleague, my children, parents in law, mechanics, dentists, teachers, insurance companies, not only that, my to-do lists keep any thing, any thought and any idea that pop up in my minds, whether those ideas are related to my pet projects that requires some kinds of action. For example, Replace Highchart with EChart, etc.
Tell me, Mr. Keller and Mr. Papasan and anyone who criticizes to-do lists, if I don’t write those things do in my to-do lists, where do I put them ? If people store them in their minds, do they still have a mind to focus on anything else, do they still have a mind to focus on the so-called “One Thing”. I won’t be surprised if they can still keep their brain function at all.
You might think I am exaggerating. I am not. Everyday, I have about half a dozen to-do items from my work, same number of to-do items from my pet project, same number of to-do items from personal life that includes kids, kids’ schools, kids’ extracurricular activities. Average about 30 to-do items in one single day. Most of them are trivial, mundane or whatever you call them but they must be done, one way or another.
Now, please tell me again, which to-do items can wait for a couple of days.
When my car gives out warning about engine oil, it always say “Oil level TOO low” and when it complains about tire pressure, it always say “Tire pressure TOO low” and the warning light keep showing every time I start the car and stay on until I shut engine off. It never go away by themselves. When you received an email from school saying your children’s lunch account balance is negative, the balance will only go one way, which is down, all the way to below zero, well into negative territory, until you send payment.
When your managers ask for project update, they will keep asking until you provide it to them. When code changes are pending review, they will keep pending until you review them.
Tell me, which among those to-do items are small stuff,
I totally agree it is always important to focus on big picture and spend more time, effort and thought on the “One Thing”. By first writing those small things down ( therefore saving your precious brain power or juice or whatever you like to call it ), then finishing them, your brain along with your time will be fully yours to dedicate on the ‘One Thing”.
I usually write those items down so I don’t have to memorize them and think about them until I finish what I was doing at that moment. Remember, emails, phone calls and text messages can come up at any moments. When you have managers to report to, children to take care of, people to manage, you could not shun many of them until end of day. Many request such as production issues, call from school clinic, etc requires your immediate attention. You either write them down and deal with them right away or write them down and deal with later.
Anything you do, big or small, do it well ( or as Bible says, “do it with all your might” ) And only way you can do it well is fully focus on it the moment you are doing it. The quickest way to complete a task is to treat it as the most important task when you are doing it.
Things are categorized as important and less important only before action starts. Once action starts, the thing being engaged on should always be considered as the most important in the whole world. That is the only way to get it done quicker and give you senses of achievement.
Procrastination is evil because it only delays what is impossible and it tortures your mind while you are delaying it.
As you can see, most of them ( if not all ) are small stuffs by the definition of the book.
I don’t know who are the target audience of the book. If the book target high level executives who have half a dozen assistants, three or four chauffeurs, two or three nannies, whose only thing to do in life is to focus on the “One Thing”, then authors are entirely correct. To-do lists are not required for them. If books target anyone else who drive their own cars, have managers to report to, have their people to manage, have children to take care, have their own pet projects, have a hundred “small” things to take care that no one can help but themselves, then please give a nod to the to-do lists. Most of us have hundreds of things to take care of. Many, many of them are very trivial. Spending a solid four to five hours each day on the “One Thing” is a great suggestion, but it does not disqualify to-do lists as one of your most important allies.
To-do lists are just like anything useful in life, you can use it or abuse it. Like a smart phone or a tablet, you can use them as productivity tool, or you can use them as time-wasting toys.
