Bye to-do lists; Hi success lists!
Everyone says that being a kid was so much better — not a care in the world, not a responsibility to fulfil, barely an expectation to live up to. Of course they were the golden days — our parents and guardians would take care of our daily planning, they would set the priorities of all work that needed to be done, and let’s be frank there wasn’t even nearly as much work, as we have on our plates today, right?
Everything was laid out — we had breakfast time, time to go to school, time to do homework, bath time, bed time. When we got older, we got our fair share of freedom — for example, we could go out to play once we did our homework.
And the older we got, the more the freedom.
But, it is in this freedom that most of us fail to live up to our own work ethics. It always seems that we have so much work to do, yet so little time to do it all. And for this we make to-do lists, and download all sorts of crazy apps on our phones.
The thrill of writing down all that needs to be done, lasts a day or two, but what next?
Through this piece, let me show you why you need to say good-bye to all to-do lists.
With the increased freedom that we as adults have, of delegating time to meet our needs, it becomes imperative that we take into account all work that should be done in a day. And to keep track of it all, we have task apps, reminder apps, todo list apps, time management apps, workflow organisation apps — I have used all of them out there, and you know what, none of them get the job done.
The problem does not lie with the apps, but in our mentality.
We believe that the apps will sort out all your tasks, make time for everything in a day, and give you control over your life. But the fatality here, is thinking that all those tasks matter equally.
Equality is a lie.
When you feel that everything is urgent, that everything needs your attention — you end up getting all tasks ticked out on your app — but at what cost? No fruitful work will be done by the end of the day, and you know it. You need to say no to unimportant tasks, those that are taking away from your time, working on your crucial work.
We need to work from a sense of priority. And this is where todo lists fail.
Todo lists are built on the premise that whoever ticks out most of the list items, whoever does the most, is the winner. But, the things which are the most important, do not always scream out the loudest. What you need is to make a list — carefully curated based on the tasks of highest priority, that will give you the maximum results.
This is a success list, more importantly, it’s your success list.
And this actually works — you see, successful people do sooner what others plan to do later, at the same time, they often delay indefinitely, what others do right away.
It is human nature to minimise effort — but shying away from work that will actually convert your efforts into achievements, will only get you so far.
Build success lists, keep them short — otherwise the purpose of it all will be lost. The list should be very specific and directing your focus in one direction at a time.
To be successful, you need to work only on tasks that will bring you success — hence, a success list.
A todo list that contains everything, will probably take you everywhere, except for success.
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