Why I Quit Using My Usual To-Do List – And What I Recommend Done Instead! | Why using a to-do list might be counterproductive as originally written by Jari Roomer at Medium.com.
A traditional to-do list will not suffice. Despite being the most common productivity tool, it has significant flaws. The problem with a standard to-do list is that it’s just a list of things you’d like to complete on a given day.
But there’s a catch: not all roles are created equal. When compared to other tasks, certain tasks produce excessive performance. These high-impact activities should come first in terms of identification, prioritization, and completion. That is the secret to making rapid progress toward your objectives.
A to-do list gives the illusion of productivity.
In fact, it’s these high-stakes tasks that we procrastinate the most on. They’re usually more difficult, time-consuming, and energy-draining. As a result, we appear to postpone these things until tomorrow, preferring to focus on a large number of simple tasks that we can check off our to-do list easily. This gives us a positive feeling. It gives us a sense of accomplishment.
For me, this meant that I could have a to-do list with 24 things on it and still feel accomplished if I completed 21 low-impact tasks from it. In fact, I didn’t make much (if any) progress toward my goals because the high-impact tasks were still unfinished. They were still told to do something ‘tomorrow.’
I figured I did well, but all I did was keep myself occupied with a lot of low-impact activities that didn’t really matter. This explains why, in my first year as an entrepreneur, I worked hard (in the conventional sense) without receiving a single dollar in revenue. I learned a basic but important lesson:
Making progress or being successful is not the same as being busy or working hard. You can be extremely busy without being extremely effective, and you can be extremely effective even if you aren’t very busy.
This lesson completely changed the game. Just two or three items on my massive daily to-do list seemed to make a difference. These tasks that brought in the most money had the most impact and helped me get closer to my goals. However, it was precisely those things that I used to put off the most.
You need a more effective productivity tool.
Again, a simple to-do list might deceive you into thinking you’re being productive because you’ll check off a ton of things on your list while procrastinating on the few high-impact tasks that really matter. Despite this, you somehow feel strong and positive because you accomplished so much.
This is why a simple to-do list is ineffective as a productivity tool — and why you need something better. Throughout the day, you should be reminded not just of all the tasks that still need to be completed, but also of the high-impact tasks that still need to be completed. It is essentially the only factor that counts.
You can work as hard as you like on low-impact activities like answering emails, attending meaningless meetings, tweaking your website, instant messaging, and posting on social media, but they will never help you succeed.
Yes, they keep you occupied, but how much does this lead to your overall objectives? There isn’t much.
High-impact activities, on the other hand, such as product growth, sales funnel work, capability development, recruiting and training staff, growing the audience and email list, marketing, and content production, contribute the most revenue, impact, and advancement.
If you want to succeed in your profession and get even better results in less time, you should always prioritize these high-impact activities. As a result, we need a powerful productivity tool that reminds us on a regular basis which tasks are most important and which are least important.
The ABCDE Method is a suped-up version of the To-Do List.
I decided to research efficiency and peak performance after a year of keeping myself busy without being genuinely successful or achieving the results I wanted using an ordinary to-do list.
That’s when I came across the ABCDE Method, a productivity tool created by Brian Tracy, a business and self-development author. I like to refer to the ABCDE Method as a “to-do list on steroids” since it resembles a to-do list but is much superior.
The ABCDE Method consists of just two stages. The first move is straightforward. Simply make a list of the things you want to complete today — your typical to-do list.
The second move is a little more difficult. Each of these activities should be assigned the letters A, B, C, D, or E. Each item on your to-do list is assigned a letter to signify its importance.
A-Tasks are the following:
Assign the letter “A” to the things on your list that are the most relevant. These high-impact tasks bring in the most money and help you get closer to your goals. To put it another way, these are your daily values.
If you put off these activities for too long, they will have a negative impact on your goals and overall performance. As a result, you can make it your daily duty to accomplish these tasks regardless of the circumstances. All other activities are a diversion before you’ve completed your A-items.
Important Note: Typically, only 1–3 items on your ABCDE list are genuinely important enough to be classified as ‘A’ tasks. Be very clear on what is mission-critical and what isn’t.
B-Tasks include:
The things on your to-do list that are important but not as important as your A-tasks should be labeled with the letter “B.” While it would be good to complete these tasks, they can never take priority over your A-tasks.
C-Tasks are a collection of tasks that must be completed.
Assign the letter ‘C’ to the tasks that aren’t critical to complete today. Whether or not you complete them has no bearing on your ambitions, career, or happiness. These tasks can only be accomplished after you’ve completed all of your A and B tasks. It’s not a big deal if you procrastinate on these projects.
D-Tasks are a subset of D-Tasks.
Assign the letter “D” to the tasks you could (and should) delegate to others because they can do it quicker, easier, or better than you can. The delegation that is effective is critical for increased productivity. The more you delegate, the more time and energy you’ll have to focus on your A-tasks, resulting in better and quicker performance.
I delegate all of my video editing and design work so that I can devote more time and energy to developing courses, writing blogs, and enhancing my sales funnels. Nowadays, you can conveniently outsource tasks using services like Fiverr or Upwork.
E-Tasks are a form of electronic task.
Assign the letter “E” to the things on your list that doesn’t need to be completed today, so they can be crossed off. Keep in mind that not everything has to be completed. A lot of things don’t matter all that much, if at all. When you concentrate more on the high-impact tasks, the low-impact tasks start to fade away.
You’ll almost certainly have several activities in the same category. You can have multiple A-tasks or multiple B-tasks, for example. Assign numbers to them to further rate them according to their value. A1 tasks, for example, are more important than A2 tasks, which are more important than your A3 tasks, and so on.
Now go ahead and do it.
The ABCDE Method is an excellent tool for keeping track of your goals and high-impact activities. As a result, I suggest switching from a traditional to-do list to the ABCDE process. Remember that taking steps — not just collecting more knowledge — is the only way to effect change.
