The importance of preparing a to do list notepad

To-Do-List is an indispensable part of many people's daily work and life. In fact, it is more like a "wish list", don't you add it to your list whenever you want to accomplish something? The writing process may be anxious or refreshing, but it must rarely be accompanied by specific actions and time plans.

Whether you agree with the To-do-list concept or not, you still use it. A survey conducted by Linkedin in 2012 showed that 63% of professionals have the habit of using to-do lists.

After all, it is not without merit. The to-do list is a very instinctive manifestation of our attempt to create order in a disorderly life and express our ability to exercise self-control. Especially when faced with a lot of to-dos, it is a good start to record them all, which can help us sort out the things to be done more visually. Many efficiency experts teach everyone how to achieve higher output in less time, and they will respect "write down everything to be done" as the first step.

In fact, the number one problem with the to-do list is that it does not distinguish between the priorities of the to-do items and the time and effort required. The chores that can be done in just a few minutes and the work that takes an hour or more to process are put together. The to-do list allows us to be lazy and makes us more inclined to deal with urgent and unimportant tasks. Second, the to-do list will cause unnecessary psychological pressure.

Roy Baumeister and John Tierney, a social psychologist and journalist, and authors of "Self-Control", stated in their book that a person usually has at least 150 different tasks at once, and that an administrative person only needs to-do items in a day. It will take more than a week to finish it all. And when we look at a long list of things to be done or still unfinished, especially if it is near the end of the day, normal people will feel psychologically shocked, overwhelmed, or even collapsed. Poor control, this will also affect our sleep and relationship with our loved ones.

Most people are very good at making lists, especially when we use a variety of colors to mark, or use computers and mobile apps to list to-dos. But few are really good at considering implementation plans. So when we are faced with too many tasks and too few actual implementation steps, we will start to delay.

Most highly successful people don’t use To-do-list, but have a well-kept calendar/schedule notepad. Because when something is important enough, you make time for it. Of course, this is one of the options away from pure "list thinking", and there are other methods worthy of reference, especially before we have a personal assistant to help arrange the itinerary.

For example, the Eisenhower 2x2 grid that many domestic efficiency madmen have already known to help prioritize tasks. The RPM system (Rapid Planning Method) "developed" by Tony Robbins, a well-known American career and life coach, the "One Thing" rule in "The One Thing", etc.