Why Daily To-Do Lists Don’t Work

When I first tried implementing daily to-do lists, I wanted to ensure the success of my long-term goals by drilling in strict routine.  Reading up on different productivity systems like David Allen’s GTD, I figured that the best plan for me would be to write out a list of tasks every day, using precise wording so I could be satisfied with myself when I ticked them off.  I like simple things, and this system I had concocted seemed very logical and practical.

My reasoning was that writing out a definite action plan would compel me to get more done.  I thought that if I increased my workload without writing it out in detail, I’d be overwhelmed by everything I had to do.  Or at least, that’s what I got from the advice I’d been reading and listening to.

To my dismay, short-term to-do lists were ineffective in increasing my overall productivity.  It wasn’t that I lacked the thirst for accomplishment, because I certainly wanted to be doing more.  The problem was that I couldn’t complete my lists in time unless I reduced the workload to around the amount I was doing before.  Writing it out, no matter how elaborate I was, didn’t really change anything.

I do think that writing is very useful for getting your thoughts down (I wouldn’t have started this blog otherwise!).  The reason why it didn’t make me more productive, I’ve now concluded, is the fact that rigid structure limits creativity.  As I wrote about in my post about why time management is overrated, my belief is that chunking off short blocks of time for creative tasks is a recipe for failure.  Here’s an example to illustrate what I mean.

Let’s say John has a dear wish to help the homeless.  He knows what he wants and why he wants it, but he doesn’t know how to go about doing it.  So he pulls out his daily to-do list and decides that he’ll spend an hour the next day gathering facts on the local homeless people and brainstorming how he could help them.

Sounds okay, right?  The trouble is, “brainstorm” is not definite.  You don’t plan ahead of time when you’re going to have ideas.  Sure, you could spend some time sitting in front of a computer and focus on churning something out, but there’s no guarantee.

After a week of planning, John starts getting impatient and decides it’s time to take action, even though he hasn’t thought of anything he likes.  He decides to start a food drive, so the next day, the first thing on his list is to contact the local food bank.  Because he’s such a go-getter, his next task on the same daily list is to go to the store and buy materials.  However, when he phones up the manager of the food bank, he’s notified that although they really appreciate his enthusiasm, it’s best if he waits a month or so when they expect their food supplies to spread thinner.  Unfazed, John crosses off his second task and goes back into brainstorming mode to decide what he can do at the moment.

When you really want something, you’ll do whatever it takes to get it.  Often, you’ll meet roadblocks or even find yourself moving in the wrong direction, so you have to change gear and get going again.  This why the daily to-do list doesn’t work; if you have to constantly change things up, you don’t actually know what you need to be doing.  Planning is important, but you can’t always decide what you need to do beforehand.

My solution is to write out my long-term goals, elaborating upon the reasons why I want them and making sure I include short-term deadlines.  By reviewing my goals daily, I constantly reinforce my passion.  This way, I’m always on the lookout for an opportunity to pounce, always motivated to push forward in the face of failure, and always quick to readjust and get back on my feet.