Scribbling on the sky

So a new year and a new decade has started. Seems to be a flurry of ‘list’ kind of activity…people desperately trying to document and make sense of the year that’s been like its a melting icecream, dripping onto the concrete soon to be evaporated forever. Other people are thoughtfully and considerately creating future goals, making lists of what needs to be done, resolving to do something…anything better while sipping on a pina colada relaxing in a hammock strung between coconut trees on the beach. Whether you’re frantically eating an icecream or sipping a pina colada its that time of year where you’re considering either the past or the future…with perhaps a grazing glance at the present.

But what of all these lists? What lists should we be keeping? What is their purpose? What actually sticks and is helpful? To do, done, stop doing, mistakes or none? These are just a few different lists I have passed, promptly indicated and cut off in the past few weeks.

The Classic: To Do List
We all know about To Do lists. It’s even been turned into a work life management system with a cult following by Dave Allen in Getting Things Done. The problem with To Do lists is that we often do them wrong – they’re most effective when it lists the next actionable task rather than ‘projects’. For example ‘Getting the car fixed’ is a project – the next actionable task is ‘Book an appointment with the mechanic’. I am a fan of To Do lists – it enables me to get all the bits and pieces floating around in my head and put them on paper so then I can focus on the actual task at hand.

From To Do to Ta Da: The Done List
The Done List is new on my radar but is certainly not a new idea. The purpose of the done list, as suggested by Joanne Spain, is to keep an ongoing growing list of the accomplishments you have achieved throughout the year. This is a great idea – I am an advocate for reflective practice and a Done List is an easy way to do this through capturing achievements and documenting completed work. You will be amazed at how quickly your portfolio grows!

For the Overloaded: The Stop Doing List
The stop doing list’s claim to fame is thanks to Jim Collins and his book Good to Great . He says:

A great piece of art is composed not just of what is in the final piece, but equally important, what is not. It is the discipline to discard what does not fit…

The premise is clear – what do you need to stop doing in order to free up time for the things that really matter? Habit, sentiment, posterity are often not reason enough to keep doing. This one seems to be becoming particularly popular within organisations since the global financial crisis.

The Odd but Effective: Mistakes List
I was intrigued by Jason Cohen’s recent post on the personal productivity checklist which is to commit to a ‘Week of Pain’ and keep a list of every single mistake you make for a week. Jason states:

The point is that you make mistakes all the time, and you make the same kind of mistakes over and over again

The purpose is then to use this evidence you have gathered to over time fix all the problems you have identified and improve your productivity and performance. Painful yes, and useful most likely but effect on personal morale? unsure, and it could potentially be putting too much emphasis on detail rather than the more important bigger picture (but it depends on what context you operate in!)

So which one?
These lists are often approached as ‘either’ ‘or’ options however each have quite different purposes, with varying time commitments and outcomes. The primary problem is that you could get so caught up in keeping lists that you never actually get anything done except for list management! So how to decide? These are my three tips:

1. Purpose: What do you want your list to do for you? There is no point in creating and making lists if all you do is create them and don’t use them.
2. What works for you?: If it is not something that is easy for you to think about, maintain and integrate into your work/life patterns it is not the right list/s. Try again.
3. Find the right tool: Once you know what lists you want to keep and why find the right tools to help you with your list management. For me – I keep a notebook, old school pen and paper style, there are plenty of iPhone apps and web tools available too.

So in between eating ice cream or sipping pina coladas what lists do you keep? What do they do for you?