Originally appeared on: http://web.archive.org/web/20220528044601/https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/productivity/learning/use-your-to-do-list-to-spot-opportunity
The value in a task list is as much in what you don’t get done as what you do!
May 1, 2018
We all know your to-do list points the way to great results. And when we talk about to-do lists, we revel in how much they help us do. We love checking off those items one by one:
“Reserve event space” Check!
“Insure proper drainage facilities!” Check
“Order 2 palettes of jello powder, drop-ship directly to loading dock!” Check
“Requisition clown” Check!
The next thing you know, your checklist is complete and your childhood dream is about to come true. Lucky you! Maybe not so lucky for the clown…
Today, however, we’re going to put our attention on the items that didn’t get checked off, because there’s magic there.
To-Do Lists Accumulate
I’m a compulsive to-do list maker. It’s been going on for years. It started with a simple note: “Bring pet goldfish to show and tell.” After a few false starts, it became a small list. “Get jar. This time, fill jar with water. Buy new goldfish. Put goldfish in jar. Bring new goldfish to show and tell.”
Since we generally add items to the list faster than we remove them, there’s a backlog. That backlog contains all the things we haven’t done over the years. If you use an online task list, you might have years’ worth of tasks on the list, if you scroll down far enough. If you use a paper list in a notebook, you might have dozens of old lists in other notebooks or on prior pages. Get them out. We’re going to mine them for gold!
We Behave in Patterns
You see, we are humans, and humans behave in patterns. There are patterns to the tasks you do, and patterns to the tasks you don’t. Scan though your task list backlog and look at all the tasks you didn’t do. Maybe they’re still on the list years later, or maybe you eventually just dropped them.
Look for patterns in what kind of tasks consistently don’t get done:
Marketing tasks
– Computer tasks
– Tasks involving accounting
– Administrative tasks
– Tasks that require you to work closely with the person from the 3rd floor who smells a bit like a camel
– Tasks where I’m not accountable to anyone but myself
– Tasks about things that are long-term important, but not urgent
Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!
About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the Get-it-Done Guy podcast, an iTunes top-10 business podcast, from 2007 to 2020. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a degree in Computer Science from MIT.
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