Lynn Johnston - The Kaizen Plan for Decluttering Your To-Do List: Take Control of Your Day 10 Minutes at a Time

The Kaizen Plan for Decluttering Your To-DoList:

Take Control of Your Day 10 Minutes at aTime

by Lynn Johnston

Published by Open Clearing Press atSmashwords

Copyright 2011 Lynn Johnston

Discover other titles by Lynn Johnston atSmashwords.com:

The Kaizen Plan for Decluttering YourComputer (free)

The Kaizen Plan for Healthy Eating

The Kaizen Plan for Organized Authors

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This book consists of a series of blog postsabout time management that originally appeared on my blog, www.smallstepstobigchange.com .I hope they help you get your to-do list organized so you can bemore productive!

For many years, during the pre-smart-phoneera, I tried to use a Day Planner. I loved the idea of a littlebinder to keep all my important information in one place. I boughtdozens of different types of pre-printed pages, and for a fewyears, I even made custom templates in Word that I could trip andhole punch and add to my planner. I was convinced that if I couldjust had the right combination of forms, somehow my entire lifewould fall into place. Id finally be organized.

The only problem was, the importantinformation never made it into my planner. The importantinformation got scribbled on post-its and envelopes and little bitsof paper. I would stick those bits of paper into the binder,promising myself that I would transcribe them neatly onto theappropriate pages later. Of course, I never did, and half the timewhen I unzipped my planner, something would fall out. But Ipersisted, believing that the problem was me I wasnt using theplanner correctly.

Its true that I wasnt using the plannercorrectly, but that wasnt the real problem. The real problem wasthat I was trying to solve my disorganization by adding more tasksto my list this nifty solution made my life more complicated.Half the blank forms in my binder werent relevant to anything Iwas doing, and the other half forced me to record things in formatsthat didnt really work for me. And of course, there was alwayssomething I needed to remember that didnt fit on any of theforms.

When I think about how much time I spentmaintaining my planner, rewriting information on the appropriateform, redesigning my customized pages to make them perfect, andshuffling through little pieces of paper that got stuck between thepageswhat a waste.

My system now is so much simpler. When I makean appointment, I send myself a text message with the date, time,and location. Later, when Im home, I add it to my gmail calendarand specify that I want gmail to send me an email reminder the daybefore. When I get the gmail reminder, I note the appointmentinformation on tomorrows to do list.

Thats it.

My to do list is pretty simple too. Its aform in Microsoft Word that I can print out daily, with checkboxesfor each of the habits that Im working on, a two column table forMeaningful and Maintenance work, and a blank section forappointments and anything else. If you want to see what it lookslike, heres a PDF: LynnsDaily Sheet .

And for keeping track of the restplans forhome and garden projects, research notes or brainstorming for astory, shopping lists, birthday present ideasI use a one-subjectthree-hole-punched spiral notebook. I start a new page whenever Imchanging topics, and at the end of the month, I can rip all thosepages out either stick them in the appropriate binder or folder, orthrow them away if theyre outdated. Notes on the seeds justplanted in the garden? Garden folder. Notes on Japanese demons?Samurai story folder. Time to go grocery shopping? I tear out thelist Ive been adding to all week as we run out of things and stickit in my purse.

Im not perfect, and neither is myorganization system. But it captures 99% of the information I needto keep track of, and its simple enough that I actually useit.

Sometimes simplest is best.

Are there any tasks in your life that couldbe simplified? Managing papers? Laundry? Cooking? Keeping track ofyour schedule?

Look at the process you use for doing thesethings and ask yourself:

Is this as simple as it could be?

Am I adding any unnecessary steps?

Am I doing things somebody elses way, evenif it doesnt fit my needs?

Is the way my working area is set up forcingme to do things the hard way?

This week I came across a quote by renownedproductivity expert David Allen: Maximum productivity is makingsomething happen with as little effort as possible.

This was a surprise to me. I was under theimpression that maximum productivity is cramming as many things aspossible onto my to-do list and then rushing around like a maniactrying to get them all done.

Okay, Im exaggerating a little. But thisquote made me realize something important: I define productivityin terms of the number of things Ive done. Im measuring my dailyperformance by the number of tasks accomplished.

But isnt that a good thing, you might ask?Isnt that the goal, to get more things done?

Yes and no. My quantity-oriented mindset doeskeep me focused on accomplishing things, so that I can keepcrossing things off of my list. But it also introduces a subtlebias regarding how I prioritize tasks.

For example, I can dust the livingroom, starta load of laundry, water the garden, and unload the dishwasher inan hour. Or I can write ~750 words on my novel-in-progress. ShouldI start my work day by crossing off one difficult but meaningfultask, or four easy but non-meaningful tasks?

Given that willpower is a limited resourcethats depleted as the day goes on, its logical to tackle thehard-but-meaningful task while my energy is up.

But its so tempting to do the easymaintenance tasks and get that little burst of happiness that comesfrom feeling like I accomplished something. This is the kind ofthinking that leads to me having a busy day but realizing atbedtime that I didnt accomplish anything meaningful. Prioritizingby quantity only brings me satisfaction in the short-term. When Imon my death bed, I wont look at the number of times I dusted theliving room and say, Im so glad I spent so much of my lifebattling coffee table dust. Sure, dusting has to get done, but itdoesnt get me any closer to my goals. Its Maintenance Work: workthat I have to do to maintain my life.

Prioritizing by quality, on the other hand,helps me focus on the long-term projects. The ones that givemeaning and purpose and joy to my life. The ones that, if I dothem, Ill have something to show for it. Writing a novel. Startinga business. Learning a language. Volunteering for a cause.Preparing for a career change. Meaningful work.

Sure, a certain amount of maintenance has toget done, and those mundane tasks do support my ability to do thethings that give my life meaning. In order to be truly productive,Ive got to balance the Meaningful Work with the MaintenanceWork.

Split your task list into two columns Maintenance Work and Meaningful Work and write each task in theappropriate column. How can you make sure that each day you crossoff at least one item in the Meaningful Work column?