Kylie is an event manager specializing in hosting industrial conclaves. When I got on my first call with Kylie, the one thing she kept repeating through the first half of the session was — I have so many things pending that I do not know how to get up to speed. There is always much more than I can handle on my plate. I never get any time to do my own thing; all my working hours go into doing client work. After listening to her woes for 15 minutes, I asked her if she could specifically list out 10 to 12 tasks that she had to complete during the week.
At last there was something that shut her up!! After a silence of a couple of minutes, she started, but could not continue after 7 tasks. I asked her to write down all her tasks in the form of a list, which we would work upon the next time.
In our second session, Kylie brought 4 lists with her — personal task list, list of emails to be answered, list of projects she was working on and a list of people to be contacted for the next event.
Can you see what was wrong with Kylie’s approach this time?
Yes, she had one list too many. What she needs to start managing her time effectively was a superlist, rather than many smaller lists that have the potential to confuse her further.
What is a superlist?
One huge list consisting of all the tasks that you need to complete, whether personal or professional, is what I call a superlist. You can have a daily to do list, a weekly list, a grocery list or any other list that you find useful, but you absolutely must have a superlist that has all your commitments written down. The granddad of all lists that you might or might not create subsequently.
And why you should have only one superlist
The moment I explain what a superlist is, many people feel they should have separate superlists for personal and professional tasks. I disagree with this point of view and so I think it is essential to clear this up before moving forward.
I disagree with the very idea of keeping personal and professional tasks separate. After all, both place their demands on the same pool of resource – your precious time. Eventually you will need to prioritize your tasks to determine which needs to be done before others. If you have two different lists, for each task you will need to check whether it is more important than all other tasks in both the lists. An unnecessary complication, if you ask me.
In fact, its implementation would be even more difficult – cross referencing two lists for every single task. I recommend using just one superlist where you note down all upcoming tasks, irrespective of whether they are professional or personal.
Which brings us to the question why we should have a superlist it all. Well there are five reasons for this and we are going to discuss each one here.
Decreases mental stress
Creating list is good for your mental health – it gives you a feeling that you have started working on the unfinished task. Bluma Zeigarnik’s 1927 study found that people are more likely to remember unfinished tasks as compared to the finished ones. This explains why we are more likely to finish a task that we have listed somewhere.
When you start making a list, you start the task but then do not finish it. To the subconscious mind it seems like the task has been interrupted and hence you remember it. And when you remember a task, you try your best to finish it.
In fact, when we commit to a plan for accomplishing a goal, our cognitive resources are freed from goal-related activities. To be fired up again when we start working on the goal.
To put it simply, the moment we commit to a plan, our brain knows that we are on the path of accomplishing this task and hence stops all activities related to remembering that the task needs to be done. That is why making plants clears up our minds and decreases mental stress.
Makes it easier to prioritize tasks
As discussed just now, eventually you will need to prioritize your tasks to decide which one needs to be done before the others. Having an exhaustive list of all the tasks that have to be completed makes it much easier. When you have the complete list in front of you, it is easier to decide the priority of each task because you do not keep thinking of a task that you might be missing out on.
You don’t miss deadlines
You now have a tool in the form of a superlist to remember everything that needs to be done. Yes, it is not necessary that a tool has to be automatic or digital. Something as mundane as a superlist created on a piece of paper using a pen can be a tool.
Whenever a new task comes up, however important or trivial, all you need to do is put it down into the superlist and promptly forget about it. When you have the time, you can refer to the list and plan for the tasks to be completed or finish them there and the, depending upon their complexity.
Without the superlist, more than missing a deadline, the nagging feeling of having forgotten something is more stressful. Equipped with a superlist you will never miss out on preparing for a meeting or attending your child’s school activities.
You are more organised and in control
A ready list of things that you need to do makes you more organized. Whenever you have time at hand you know what exactly you need to do to manage your time well. Being more organized also ensures that you are in control of your own life.
You ensure better work life balance
Putting both professional and personal tasks on the same superlist forces you to work towards better work life balance. You automatically prioritize tasks on their merit, not because of their category – personal or professional. Because many times personal tasks are more important than professional and vice versa.
Over to you
Do you have a superlist for noting down all the new tasks that come up? You might call it by some other name but the basic idea should be the same – having all the personal and professional commitments written down in a single place.
How does the superlist help you?
If you haven’t started creating a superlist for yourself till now, you must start immediately. What is preventing you from starting? Let me know and I might be able to help.
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