And if I move a task more than a few times, it’s a big hint to me that that particular activity may not be essential enough to do at all.Ĭalendaring tasks has been a total game changer for longer-term projects like a proposal for a new book I’m writing. Now, if I don’t do something at its allotted time, I have to reschedule another time to get it done. (I should mention that I still use the classic tip from David Allen’s Getting Things Done that you should just do something right away that will take two minutes or less, rather than writing it down at all. The strategy is so simple, I can’t even remember where I first learned about it. All of a sudden, every task had a place and things were getting done. So, for example, instead of having “review Q1 profit and loss statement” or “take Zappos return to UPS” on a to-do list, I scheduled 30-minute blocks on my calendar to actually get those tasks done. Ready for the big reveal? Instead of putting tasks on a list, I started to schedule action items on my calendar. And then I stumbled on a strategy that has been life-changing for me, and might be for you as well. But I just wasn’t checking off the items I really wanted to complete. Lately, as my life has gotten busier, I’ve had to admit that the tasks on my glorious to-do lists just weren’t being completed.Īttempting to solve this problem, I avidly read books and blogs on productivity and list-making (Never check email in the morning! Combine personal and professional tasks in one single list! Limit yourself to three daily to-dos!). I’ve been known to put things on my to-do list just to check them off.īut here’s the thing-making a list and actually getting stuff done are two very different activities. I have bought countless apps that promised productivity nirvana.

I have bought special graph paper notebooks to make my lists even neater. I’m not sure anyone loves a to-do list more than I do.

But I recently decided to kill my to-do list obsession-and here’s why you might want to ditch yours, too. Is there anything more satisfying than checking things off of a to-do list? I didn’t used to think so.

On my todo list