The List
Dinah has Monday off but this is the weekend, and the weekend is the time to Get Things Done. It’s time to tackle The List.
I have lists for everything: grocery shopping, personal errands, work-from-home assignments, travel (all types—climbing vacations, hiking, biking, beach and conference), even hobby activities. I know I’m not alone—Dinah has a mental “to do” list, and even keeps them for her friends (ask me how I know!).
The advantage of listkeeping is that you are less likely to forget something, which means that you avoid embarrassment and people getting annoyed with you. A good list keeps anxiety at bay when you’re swamped with responsibilities and keeps you focussed on the next task at hand instead of running around like a scattered person. You can work more efficiently when you can organize errands according to location or time of day.
There are a few bad things too: a certain amount of anxiety is necessary to actually get started on a task. With a list, you’re temped to think, “I’ve got that covered—it’s on the list,” but then you never actually do it. When the list gets too short (that actually does happen sometimes! I get caught up.) then the list disappears and duties get lost.
The other problem is that task begets task. You cross off one task, but that leads to another: you make the phone call, but the conversation leads to a new task. The List becomes an unending series of responsibility, which is rather demoralizing.
Task management is a psychological issue. Some people never make a list and live ‘on the fly’, some people make lists occasionally, a few rare people start the day by running the list.
What’s your style?
And no Dinah, you can’t have access to my list. I put enough stuff on there myself.
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