To-Do List: A Simple Tool to Drive an Action Habit

How I have pushed the humble to-do list to new limits to get things done

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Action is one of the most fundamental aspects of discipline. Over time, I have realized the beauty of the to-do list as a simple tool that works wonders for me in getting things done.

How I use to-do lists to keep moving forward

I usually use Google (no affiliation) services like Calendar, Keep, and Tasks for the convenience of accessibility across multiple devices. Additionally, the simplicity and minimal structure help me experiment and easily customize using the to-do list to my needs. I use these tools in the following ways:

1. Prevent getting distracted with intrusive thoughts
   We all get intrusive thoughts as our mind is a thought-producing machine. Moreover, they usually pop up when we are trying to focus on something. It is almost like a different aspect of our personality is trying to get our attention. I write the most distracting ones down into a to-do list. This takes only a few minutes. Writing it down communicates to our distracting personality that “this is important, and because it is written down, it is not forgotten. Moreover, I commit to addressing it once I am done with my current task”. This placates me, thus reducing further distraction and removing the stress of trying to remember to get to it in the future.
2. Getting motivated to do uninteresting chores
   After using the to-do list for a while, I get a reward (Dopamine hit) when I sign off tasks in my list. Consequently, when it comes to getting started with boring tasks, initially I get driven by the need to check out another task in my to-do list. In most cases, it gets me started up to the point of gaining interest. Of course, striking out a task itself is rewarding, but I also deliberately, reward myself randomly by rolling a die and doing something that feels good when the die rolls a 1 or a 2. This is based on the [1] that has shown random intermittent rewards are the most effective for neuroplasticity and habit formation.
3. Orients me in the right direction
   Sometimes, when starting on something, even if we are looking forward to it, not knowing how to do it may be discouraging. In such situations, I start adding items to my to-do list related to the task at hand, and even though most of them may not be very useful in making progress with the original, doing this simple activity primes the mind to think in a structured fashion, eventually converging to a more reasonable course of action.
4. Keeps me on the path of self-discipline when the going gets tough
   Unless a habit is deeply integrated, staying on the self-discipline path requires effort. This becomes challenging in non-ideal states of mind: a long day at work or morning grogginess due to insufficient sleep that undermines our ability to recall or focus. In such situations, a to-do list acts as a guide, preventing me from going off track. I just keep on mindlessly attempting tasks in the list one at a time for the target duration recorded with the task description. Even if I may not make meaningful progress, it does get me one step closer to habit formation and helps maintain consistency.
5. Helps me review my purpose
   Firstly, whenever I create a new task, I add a one-liner description of the goal right into the title of the to-do item, helping me practice recalling the high-level purpose from memory when creating the task. Moreover, when reviewing the given task, I automatically see the underlying purpose for doing it.
6. Improving myself to avoid procrastination
   Of course, this system is not perfect; some tasks on the to-do list tend to get procrastinated. Therefore, each task description starts with a snooze counter, whereby whenever I review it and know that I can address it, but end up delaying it anyway, I increment the snooze counter and add an honest reason. With further procrastination, the counter and the list of reasons also grows. In the future, whenever I notice tasks with a higher snooze count, I review the accumulated reasons and think about how I can prevent this from happening.
7. Building self-confidence
   The list of finished tasks acts like a Cookie Jar [2] (an idea from David Goggins): a history of all ones I finished, overcoming distractions and resistance. As I use Google tasks (no affiliation) that I also put deadlines on, I can see all the previous calendar days littered with finished ones. Reviewing this history is a way to boost confidence based on evidence that I can get done with things.

Final Thoughts

Action habit is the most fundamental aspect of self-discipline and making progress with your goals. I have found that a simple tool like a to-do list helps drive my actions. The above ideas are simple enough to implement using any to-do list application as it only involves taking additional notes in the description.

References
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f02msdoCBSw
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MobGYXeUlvE

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