All Tasks Are Not Created Equal

I am using some medically necessary downtime, which are words that sound better than “I had another basal cell carcinoma removed”, this time from my shoulder. I’m not allowed to do much for a couple of weeks. So I had a week of not seeing clients in-person and instead have made some progress on projects.  I’m grateful for the opportunity to do so, though I really wish I could do it without having to have minor surgery.

My first project was catching up on my in-box, my long neglected inbox. 

If you are one of the many people I have neglected, I apologize and I’m working on it!  “Kelly” attended a presentation in late January and reached out a few weeks later and asked specifically “How do you keep a running to-do list? I always have such a long list, and the items end up on multiple sheets of paper.”

So, let’s talk about those! First, so that I can finally answer her question-  sorry, Kelly - and second, because I haven’t talked about them lately and To-Do lists are great to talk about because they are vitally important to getting things - the right things - done!

As I read this email from “Kelly”, I recognize that she uses a paper to-do list. I get asked often about paper versus digital to-do lists. And though I am a big fan of technology and my own lists are digital, this question doesn't actually have anything to do with technology. 

Typically, questions about to-do lists have more to do with priorities and scheduling, rather than paper versus tech.  Even if it doesn’t seem that way.  But let me tell you what I am thinking about.

Our to-do lists are reminders of the different tasks that we have to complete. On any given day they can be a mix of reminders. Today’s list could include “take the trash cans out to the curb” or “go to the grocery” or “call the pharmacy about my prescription”, and then “pick up prescriptions”.  Maybe there is an item on there to “finally respond to the email regarding to do lists!” or maybe that’s just me!

The actual item was “30 minutes: dig out the email inbox”. I don’t like to leave things untended, and I certainly don’t like to leave people with questions, especially after they take the time to attend a presentation and actually reach out to me.  So, occasionally, I have to suck it up and be embarrassed to say that it took me two months to answer an email, but at least I finally answered.

And, thinking back to my conference last month and how my fellow organizers and others since then report that managing email is their biggest productivity challenge, managing email is likely an upcoming topic for another article and another podcast episode.  But I digress.

Today. To Do Lists: priorities around urgency and importance, and scheduling.

In a recent group for the highway construction careers training program, there was one of my students who, on the first day, made the mistake of shaking his head “No” when I asked “Does anybody make lists?”  The poor guy.  The running joke then was for me to gesture to him whenever I mentioned lists for the next 2 days.  

A list is a physical representation of what you need to do. One step further, it is a physical representation of all the thoughts swirling in your brain right now attached to task completion.  

And we need our to-do list to be functional, to be something that works FOR us. Or at the very least, doesn’t work AGAINST us.  Very often, though, we just add items to the to-do list without assigning any kind of criterion or characteristics, and then the list quickly gets overwhelming and we may abandon it.

Some people ask about Mental Lists, as in “I have the list in my head”, and yes that is a place to start. But having an actual list affords a few necessary features to a well functioning to-do list.  

When we write a list, paper or digital, we have to verbalize what we actually need to do, we have to put words to it.  And, once a task is on the list, paper or digital, we can assign more meaning to it, in the form of priorities and scheduling.  

Because all tasks are not created equal.

What was that? 

Yes, I said, All Tasks Are Not Created Equal.

Therefore, all tasks on our to-do list should not be listed in the same way, as though they are equal.

Going back to the Eisenhower Box in one of my early episodes, we need to consider which tasks on our to-do list are the most urgent or will have the biggest impact and focus on those today and this week. 

“Urgent” means time specific.  Maybe you have work or appointments on your calendar for today, and those are certainly time-specific.  But tasks might be time specific as well.  “Write article to record for Podcast” is attached to one of my appointments today. So the task is to write the article, and I need to complete that before I can meet with my producer at noon.

In addition, “send photos to the dermatologist” so he can gauge my healing and progress is on the list for today, specifically, because today is one week post-op and sending a photo after a week were part of my discharge instructions.

There are a few other truly must-be-done-today tasks, and then a lot of hope-to-get-done-today tasks.  I park the truly urgent tasks at the top of my digital list, and assign a time / deadline to them. 

Then we consider the impactful tasks, the high priority tasks, the tasks that move us towards our goals.  I have spoken about “needle” movers in the last few months, those really important tasks we need to complete to make progress.  Of course, knowing what my high impact tasks are for today requires that I know my goals and projects.

So, first things first, as you review your to-do list, determine which tasks on the list have the greatest urgency and would also have the greatest impact on your progress in life.  Those are your high priority tasks for today.

Now, scheduling.  What time do you have to dedicate to these tasks today?

Wait, what?  

You heard me correctly.  You cannot create a to-do list for today with 28 hours of work tasks on it, all assigned urgent and high priority. You’re setting yourself up for failure and frustration, and still have no guarantees that you will get done what you need to get done today.

Today’s to-do list must match the time you have to complete the work.  Maybe there is a little stretch, or a little flexibility or creativity, but not much.  

I am taking a productivity coaching course, and it is really amazing.  We are working through a book called “The Productivity Chain: The Holistic Way to Spend Your Time On What Matters” and the author, Casey Moore, is teaching the course.  And more on that in the coming weeks!

But “Goal Setting and Priorities” was one of the chapters in my assigned reading this weekend, and a line resonated with me so much that I wrote it down, “Prioritizing tasks can’t be wishlist making”, after the example of a client prioritizing 7 hours of work with only 2 free hours after meetings that day.

So, no wishlists, sorry.  To make a to-do list that works for us, we need to be aware of what time we have available for tasks today or this week, and match up the high priority tasks with the available time.

Once we have scheduled the urgent and impactful tasks, what about the other stuff?  What is the process for collecting the tasks that are not important and urgent for today? We need a process for handling ideas that come to us. 

For example, last week, I thought of a great gift idea for a friend.  However… their birthday isn’t for months.  Now, I could just act on the idea and make it happen, or more usefully, I can hold on to the idea and use it when this person’s birthday comes around. 

For me, ideas in the moment are often lacking!  So… what to do with that great idea, between now and when I need it? I need a place to park it so it doesn't get lost.

And since all tasks are not created equal, another answer to Kelly’s questions is to keep a rolling to-do list, or a Master to-do list, for certain, and also sub-categorized to-do lists, for example in this case, a  “Gift Ideas” list.  If you are a paper list person, add another sheet of paper to your planner with “gift ideas” as the title, and park those ideas there until you need it.

Maybe you have packing ideas for a trip in 6 months on the same running to-do list as “send photos to dermatologist today”, and we can see that those are vastly different types of tasks, and yes, Kelly, what a hassle that would be if it was all on just one long list!  Yikes!

How many times would we have to re-write non-urgent gift ideas or trip details for 6 months from now, or in my case, blog and podcast ideas, if we treated all tasks equally?

Consider sub-lists, either paper or digital, for those not-right-now ideas.  And create and maintain a habit around checking in on those sub-lists every few weeks, to see if there is anything on them that needs to be moved to the current To-Do List. And if you are a paper person and would like to dip your toe into the Digital pool, you might start to use the Notes App for those longer term items.

Ok, Kelly, as I consider again your question: “How do you keep a running to-do list? I always have such a long list, and the items end up on multiple sheets of paper.”

What have we learned today?

• All Tasks Are Not Created Equal.

• To-do lists are an important and necessary part of our overall productivity strategy.

• I personally prefer digital to-do lists for ease of updating and maneuvering the information, but the best to-do list platform is the one you will actually use.

• To-do lists can quickly get overwhelming if we don’t prioritize the tasks based on urgency and impact.

• Sub-lists for some categories can be helpful for holding on to long-term information.

• If we don’t actually schedule the work, the list is just a wishlist.

• And the whole point of the list is to make life easier and therefore better for us, so we can get the right things done.