I am a huge fan of lists.  Love ‘em. And when I say love, I mean LOVE them. I write a list for pretty much everything that I have to do. Whether it’s business related or for personal projects. I always have a running to-do list that covers all of my tasks. I love being able to cross items off of my list and feel like I’ve been productive. Like I’ve accomplished something for the day. Full disclosure, I am totally one of those people that will add something to my list that I’ve already done just to cross it off. However, to-do lists are really only helpful if they are actually helping you get things done.

The Problem

A few months ago while I was updating my weekly to-do list, I realized that there were some unfinished items that I had carried over for several weeks. There were things that I hadn’t got done from the week before. I just kept transferring them to the next week’s list, and the next, and the next without making any progress on them. I kept wondering why I was putting these half off but I couldn’t figure it out.

At first I thought that it must have been that I just ran out of time and didn’t make it to these items.  But I quickly realized that time wasn’t the issue. I had been adding new items to my to-do lists each week and was completing those. What was it with these items that kept them in heavy rotation? I didn’t get it.

The Solution

Then, one day while listening to a podcast I heard something totally changed the way that I created my to do list. This was advice from a guest, Nick Loper, on the “Don’t Keep Your Day Job” podcast. Nick, the creator of Side Hustle Nation, talks about how when he was creating his own to-do lists he was running into the same problem.  

He said it helped him to realize that the things he was carrying over week after week were either not a priority like he though they were, or they weren’t actionable. After looking a little deeper, he saw that the tasks he had on his list were too daunting and he felt overwhelmed by them. Because of this he never made any progress on them.

He admitted that at one point, his list included the items “redesign website” and “write book.”  For months he never even attempted to tackle these things because they seemed too big, and they were.  It wasn’t that they weren’t a priority, he just didn’t know where to start.

So he began to break these big items down into smaller actionable steps. Instead of “redesign website” he broke that down to 1 – Research Site Themes, 2 – Set-Up test Sub-domain, 3 – Test New Theme on Sub-domain. For his book, he broke that down into outlining each chapter, writing each chapter, editing each chapter, etc.

Light bulb moment!  Nick’s advice helped me to see that it wasn’t the tasks that were the problem, it was the way I was writing it. See, if you’re making a to do list and your task to do is too big and too overwhelming, it’s going to stop you from even starting it. Breaking down the large projects into bite-size doable actions will help you make more progress. You’ll be more energized and encouraged, and more willing to work at actually getting things done.

See for Yourself

The next time you’re making a list, take a look at the things that you’re writing. Is there anything that seems too overwhelming to you? See how you can break that larger task down into smaller steps so that you still are getting things done, and not getting stuck in the overwhelm. Small steps are still steps in the right direction. It doesn’t matter how little or how much you get done in one day.  As long as you accomplish something, even a small thing, that’s better than accomplishing nothing at all.

If you’re feeling discouraged by a lack of productivity, don’t get down on yourself. Read my article, “Your worth is not measured by your productivity” to give yourself a new perspective.

xo

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