Forget Detailed Planning Lists — Just Keep One List
Throughout my life from early childhood until relatively recently I was a constant writer of goals and to do lists. Long-term planning lists. Mid-term planning lists. Short-term planning lists. Daily to do lists stemming from those lists. Separate goal lists for different kinds of pursuits. I did this for years.
Well, the truth is I would start creating those lists and they would work for a while. Then I would drop them because they no longer worked for me. Stupidly I would start creating them again and that endless cycle continued for far too long in my life.
I was reared by a wonderful father who lived by detailed planning and lots of lists. It seemed built into his DNA and, admittedly, he was incredibly successful in many aspects of his life. However, he was also someone in whom I saw a constant sense of anxiety about doing enough. He seemed to be captive by his goals, his lists, his sense of needing to accomplish more. His lists seemed to elicit a steady sense of urgency and I rarely saw him truly rest, relax or experience much joy.
Over the years I’ve experimented with just about every productivity and life planning strategy one might run across. I’ve written about some of them. At the time I would be incredibly passionate that “this” system would work when others have failed. I turned out to be wrong every time. At least for me, they didn’t work except for short periods of time.
The various strategies I’ve tried to employ over time to modify and tweak the goal and list-making approach always seemed to break down ultimately. I know I’m not the only person this happens to. I’ve talked to lots of people who report the exact same experience. Rigid goals and lists don’t work for them.
It took a while, but I seem to have landed on a system, if you want to call it that, that works for me. I have a single list (I call it “The List” in my files) on which I put everything.
Technologically I use Evernote as my list capture system. It syncs to my phone, laptop or can be accessed on the web from any computer. Extremely useful.
If I think of a task or get a task from work or a project meeting, I add it. If I have something I want to learn about, I add it. If I notice a specific book or resource I want to investigate later, I add it. If I spend some money that needs to be entered into my financial system later, I add it. If a friend gives me a phone number or email, I add it. If I just happen to think of some random thing I need to do, I pull out my phone and add it to the list. Everything goes on the one single list.
Because I do have specific work and other responsibilities, I make sure to check all my “input” channels (email, texts, and so on) and if there are any action items or information to quickly capture, it goes on the list.
Every so often, sometimes daily, I scan the list and reorder it based on what I perceive are the current priorities. Because they’re in the Evernote app, they’re easy to move around in seconds.
Interestingly, sometimes the priorities shift considerably. Other days, they don’t shift at all. That’s how life works, so that’s how my list works.
Periodically I take stuff that needs to be permanently captured and move it from the list to the right place. My contacts, calendar, learning notes, project notes, reference resources, and so on. Having a single place to capture everything ensures that eventually it all either gets done, considered, or permanently captured in the appropriate place.
I know these sorts of systems don’t work for everyone. This one works for me. I figured I’d put this in writing in case it might work for others.
