To Do List Heaven

Back in February 2011, I wrote a post on how to escape to do list hell.

I was talking to my friend over dinner recently and he mentioned that he had nothing on his to do list. He had completed the last task that morning.

Before I get into this post, it’s probably a good time to mention my friend is not a blogger. As many bloggers will attest, there is always something on the bloggers to do list. We are always trying new things, updating our design and plugins or adding new content.

Back to my friend.

I was stunned by his admission. Flabbergasted even. He had nothing on his to do list. He had done everything on both his work list and his personal one. Usually we complete everything on our work list, only to find we fall behind on our personal/home one.

He had done everything. To be honest my first thought was – is that even possible?

Over dinner we talked about how he had made this happen. Here are the four key factors.

Time

My friend is working casual hours at the moment. When he does go to the office, he works some ridiculously long hours but then he might have a long stretch of time off.  This gives him the space to get all of those niggling errands done that can be time-consuming and involve a lot of running around.

Money

My friend is doing quite well for himself financially. He doesn’t need to save to buy something or put off paying a bill so that he can accommodate something else. If something needs doing at home, he can afford to pay someone to do the work or fix it himself with the tools he already has.

Motivation

My friend is a person who gets the job done. He doesn’t procrastinate. He is an action taker.  A doer.

Clarity

I’m not sure if my friend writes down physical lists (I will definitely ask him about that when I see him next) or if he keeps it all filed in his head, so to speak. One thing I do know is that he has a clear picture of exactly what needs to be done.

He has clarity on what tasks he needs to complete. It is important to point out he would also know why completing a particular task is important.

Your turn

So what about you? Have you completed everything on your current to do list?

Most likely the answer is no, though if it’s a yes I would love to hear from you in the comments section on how you went about it! Perhaps you take a different approach, in which case I would love to hear from you.

If your answer was no, then my question is which of these factors do you need to work on to make a significant impact on your productivity?

The good news is three of these factors (time, motivation and clarity) are within our control. I’m not saying they are easy, merely within our control.

Admittedly, money is the slightly more difficult beast. Some problems can be fixed by throwing money at them.  We know that to be true.  Of course, you need to have the money to throw at a problem or task in the first place.

Other things can’t be fixed by money. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of having to get in and do the hard work yourself.

You might be thinking, I need help with all four.  In fact that might be true. It can also feel a bit overwhelming. My advice, at least in the beginning, is to pick one. Pick the one that will have the most impact and work on it.

Say for instance time is your issue. Clear some time in your schedule. If you have a partner and children that might be difficult and involve some juggling, but it is worth the effort.

The interesting thing is the three controllable factors work together once you get some synergy going.  If you have the time and clarity on what needs to be done, you will have more motivation to get started and see the task through to completion.  If you have the motivation and clarity, you will find the time.

Hopefully if you have the time, motivation and clarity your efforts might also bring more money your way as well.

Which one do you specifically need to work on?

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This post was written by...

Thea – who has written 232 posts on Write Change Grow.

Hi! Welcome to my blog.  I'm a freelance writer and blogger. For more Write Change Grow goodness, sign up for my free newsletter.  You can connect with me on Facebook and Twitter.

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