The Power of Lists

Their are shopping lists and then their are lists. Nothing but an ordered itemized account of items to do one at a time and then consigned to the dustbin. I used to believe that lists meant a series of infinite steps leading to a gradual headache. It took me some while to discover the 'power' of lists. And it was a serendipitous offshoot of my own procrastination through which I stumbled upon the benefits of lists. That is to say in simple enough words that I was damn lazy...and finally fed up of my own activity, I decided to accomplish tasks with a vengeance which was hitherto absent in my human make-up. The first list I 'created' included items ranging from cleaning my scooter to clipping my toenails. And it was rather long. I thought that if I could accomplish everything in a single day, it would be great. To my chagrin, I could follow the list only till the fourth item. At the end of the day, I was tired, pooped and thoroughly de-motivated. In short, I was back to square one.

Is their a method to creating a perfect list? Something which makes you accomplish more without making you feel like a rushing locomotive without brakes. I set out to find it. I did devise some means of my own along the way and it has brought me successes too. What I discovered was,

1. Put everything into perspective - Determine what exactly you want to do. What is important and what is less important. We only have 24 hours and 365 days. Putting everything in its proper frame helps us to de-clutter our mind after all their is only some things we can do in a day or a year. So pick the ones which are the most important for you. List them in no particular order. Just a random collection of items on a piece of paper. Next, rank them in order of priority. 1...2...3...so on and so forth. Remember the Pareto 80:20 rule - 80% of the results from any series of actions are caused by 20% of the actions themselves.

2. Visualize - Imagine how completing the tasks would benefit you. Creating a list involves two things, first effectively creating a list itself and secondly 'motivating' oneself to go through the list in a day. Take it like a movie in reverse, from the ending to the beginning. How would you feel?

3. Create buffer time - Life is busy making its own plans while we are making ours. Each day throws hurdles in our path. An unscheduled meeting, a system crash or whatever. Build these 'potholes' into your list too. One way to do this is to create a short un-crowded list. If the 'potholes' don't come about you can always do something extra or reward yourself for finishing the day sooner...either way you win.

4. Make a short list - As I said earlier, start small, keep time for enjoyment. Keep the list simple. The direct benefit of a small manageable list is that you don't have to hurry through the day; you can focus on each task much better. And also keep yourself motivated. Remember, at the end of the day its not the list that is important but the items on that list.

5. Stay committed - Take it for the long haul. Even if you finish 60-70% of the tasks on the list, its a victory. How were you doing before you started on the lists? Better or worse? Are you doing the work in a better way now than before? Decide on these yourself. Fine tune the list according to your own requirements and abilities.

(I make an Excel sheet with the columns as days and the rows for each task. At the end of the day, I fill each cell against the task with yellow to signify -Task completed. Also keeping track of each day and week makes me aware whether I am improving or sliding down. )
Lists are like maps. They provide us with a direction to steer. Our own discipline and commitment are the oars by which we can give direction to our efforts. Lists again are personal tools. What works for me many not necessarily work for you.
(I make an Excel sheet with the columns as days and the rows for each task. At the end of the day, I fill each cell against the task with yellow to signify -Task completed. Also keeping track of each day and week makes me aware whether I am improving or sliding down. )
But all of us have a finite number of seconds a day, and finally a list is about managing those seconds and having a good time doing it .So work on it ...fail and try again and...develop your own method to tackle the 'madness'.