An audience member said something to me when I addressed a large group for their annual conference, and I found it to be quite revealing with regard to how productive this man really wanted to be.
Here’s what he said:
“I wouldn’t want all of my tasks listed in one place. That would be too overwhelming.”
A dozen questions ran through my mind. Did he say this because he DIDN’T want to have total control of his day? Did he say this because he DIDN’T want the ability to plan action and make certain progress on his projects? Did he say this because he DIDN’T want 100% awareness of tasks so he could make smart decisions about how to spend his time?
Probably not, but one thing we do know for sure is this: he was SO uncomfortable with the idea of what it would LOOK LIKE and FEEL LIKE to have ALL of his tasks in one place that he wasn’t willing to do it AT ALL. He didn’t even want to know more about how it would work or the resulting benefits of such an approach. Instead, he kept his blinders on and decided it was better to work in the dark.
Fumbling Around in the Dark
You know what it’s like when you walk into a dark room at home at night. You generally know where you’re headed, but you’ll still walk slowly and carefully so you don’t bump into anything. You head for a lamp you know is there—perhaps a floor lamp or a lamp on a piece of furniture—and while you might fumble around a bit to find it, eventually you find the lamp and turn on the switch. And once the light is on, you can move around a lot faster, right?
Working without a plan that includes a full inventory of your tasks is a lot like fumbling around in the dark. You’re working at a MUCH slower pace than you could be.
And you might feel as if you’re slogging through molasses instead of making the fast progress you’d really like to make.
One of the disadvantages of working without 100% awareness of tasks is that you work more reactively than proactively. If you don’t have a solid direction of what you want to achieve, other things and other people can pull you off track VERY quickly.
Now, to some degree, we all have to react to what happens in our workday as things change, of course. New tasks appear continuously and priorities shift all the time. But when you work more reactively than proactively, and without a solid plan, a lot of danger zones appear.
The biggest danger zone is losing sight of what you’re NOT doing. This is when the blinders stop you from seeing the big picture… because you didn’t create one.
You have to be able to turn on a dime when necessary, yes, but here’s the key…
You have to be able to turn on a dime without missing, losing or forgetting anything.
And that requires AWARENESS. What you choose to do with your time is just as important as what you choose NOT to do, and you still need to be aware of what you’re NOT doing… and why. Others will ask from time to time about something they expect from you and even if it’s not something you’re working on right now, you will still want to have a ready answer as to when you’ll get to it and when you can deliver.
Awareness of ALL tasks will allow you make informed decisions about existing tasks and new tasks, as well as shifting priorities. You always want to be sure you’re spending your time on the MOST important tasks and using time efficiently. If we return to the audience member who decided he didn’t want to see all of his tasks in one place, his choice reflected an attitude of “let the chips fall where they may,” which is not productive, not very responsible nor will it give him a whole lot of fast progress.
What a productive task management system looks like.
To clarify, when the audience member said he didn’t want to see all of his tasks all in one place, “one place” meant “one system.” And using one system doesn’t mean that all tasks are in one endless list or that they‘re all listed for achievement in one DAY. That would be terribly Unproductive and yes, overwhelming as a result.
An endless to-do list creates “task management paralysis,” as another audience member once described it, which I can understand, because using an endless LIST without a PLAN is NOT how productive task management systems work.
A productive task management system should be all-inclusive.
It should tell you everything you need to know about where you are, what you’re working on, what you plan to do next and when you plan to do it. And even when your plan for the day gets derailed—and sometimes it will!—you will still have a complete picture of everything you need to do and you can decide with confidence what needs to be done NOW.
A productive task management system should also give you a way to track the two most important elements of getting things done: WHAT you’re going to do and WHEN. Not when it’s DUE, but when you’re going to DO something—when you’ll take action.
To address the “WHAT” component, you must be able to track ALL of your responsibilities, no matter where they came from. The system should allow you ample room for well-described tasks with plenty of pertinent details.
To fulfill the “WHEN” component, you must be able to plan action for each and every task, no matter how far out into the future it will be. Otherwise, when you’re staring at a bunch of tasks on a legal pad, they can appear to need action NOW or this WEEK, when in fact, many of your tasks do NOT need action just yet. Many won’t get action as compared to all of the other tasks you are responsible for that DO need action sooner than later.
A productive task management system like this should also support you in working more PROACTIVELY instead of REACTIVELY.
When you work proactively, you’re sure of your direction. When working reactively, you’re not sure and often, you can’t see beyond the task in front of you. In this state, you can easily be pulled from one task to another. You’ll lose time, energy and focus very easily, which makes it harder for you to make tangible progress on particular tasks or projects.
When you’re able to document ALL of your tasks and responsibilities in a complete, centralized, digital plan, you get all of the benefits of total awareness, the power to prioritize, and the ability to make smart decisions about how to spend your time.
You can easily see what you’ve decided to work on today versus future days, which allows you to forget about future tasks for a little while with peace of mind. You’ll know that the time you spend today on your MOST important tasks will be time well spent. It means you’re working “in the know” and not in the dark. And wouldn’t you rather KNOW than NOT KNOW?
Pivot with a gain, not a loss.
When you need to pivot in your workday, you always want to do so at a gain and not a loss, meaning you want to be able to turn on a dime and switch gears without missing, losing or forgetting anything.
When you switch gears in a REACTIVE workday, something will likely slip through the cracks and then you’ll have to spend time cleaning up after THAT, which creates a very unproductive cycle that will only cost you more time and energy, and slow you down.
When working proactively, this time and energy can be saved, because you’re fully aware of ALL of your tasks. And even when your day changes and priorities shift, nothing will be missed or forgotten. You can make new decisions, reprioritize quickly, and continue to work with intention on your most important tasks.
And before you say, “But I have all of my to-dos in my spiral notebook,” or “All of my notes and tasks are on my legal pads. I’ve got this…” remember that paper is a TOOL, not a SYSTEM. And for that reason, it cannot possibly include ALL of your tasks from the many different sources in your day. Any list on paper is a PARTIAL list. It’s just a FRACTION of all of your tasks.
The bottom line is this: when tasks are spread out all over the place, you cannot efficiently or effectively manage tasks.
As a result, your awareness and control will be a lot lower, and your productivity and progress will be a lot slower.
To avoid this situation, create a complete, centralized, digital task list that includes ALL tasks.
Knowing what to do and doing it is important, yes, but choosing, knowing, and feeling good about what you’re NOT doing is just as important to your overall productivity and progress. And this is only possible when you have total clarity of what you’re responsible for.
With a full inventory of tasks in front of you, you can plan more easily, prioritize with more precision and make smart decisions about how to spend your time. This means you’re not working reactively in the dark without a plan. You’re working proactively and intentionally, with full awareness and clarity, and making meaningful, powerful progress with peace of mind.
