Introducing The Done List- Forget The To Do List!
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| The Done List |
If only this method worked, the world would be a simpler and happier place. The reality is more like this: You want to accomplish your goals, such as study for, and pass the EPPP exam. You take out a piece of paper. You write down the activities that you want to accomplish today. The list goes on and on. How, you wonder to yourself, am I ever going to complete all of these things today? Still, you plow on, knowing that you are following the time honored advice of time management experts.
You order everything on the list by priority. Well, at least you think the priorities are correct. After all, is "Buy food for dinner" really less important than "Study for the EPPP examination so that I have more money for food?" Or should I get food for dinner ahead of studying for the EPPP exam? Or maybe all the tasks are important to complete or I wouldn't be writing them down in the first place? So then, does priority matter, you wonder? Finally, a half hour later your To Do List is finished. You look at it and heave a great, big sigh. It's huge. But you plow ahead courageously anyway, determined to complete all of the tasks on your To Do List today.
Sixteen hours later... You lay awake in bed staring at the ceiling feeling defeated.
Yet another day has gone by that you did not complete your To Do List. What did I do wrong? you wonder. Eventually you drift off to sleep feeling weary and defeated.
There is a better way. Forget the To Do List! Your important tasks: "Get food for dinner, Study for the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology, Buy gas"; are you really going to forget to do these things? It's unlikely. Why set yourself up with an impossibly long list of tasks to complete? You know that there are many important tasks to complete today. Some of the tasks you will finish today, some you won't. You're not a slacker; after all, you would not be studying for a psychology license if you were. You don't need a new To Do List everyday.
Instead, use a Done List. You will feel a million times better, and motivated to accomplish more.
By all means, keep a global To Do List if you wish. You could use a pad, software on your computer such as Outlook, or web services online such as the free version of ToddleDo. Your global To Do list will insure that no important task is forgotten. But this is not a list of what to do today.
Today, you will do what you know is most important from memory. If a few tasks are critical to do today, write those tasks down on a separate piece of paper as a reminder. By critical I don't mean, I'd like to do this today because it would move me towards my goals. I mean, if I don't do this task today the consequences will be severe, because it can't wait until tomorrow. For example, I must pay my credit card bill today or the credit card will be suspended, or I must get gas today or I won't make it to work tomorrow.
What about the rest of your tasks today? Here's where the Done List comes in. On a piece of paper write "Done List" at the top, and today's date. Here you list each activity or task that you have completed today. Not what you'd like to do, or what's "important" to do, but what you've actually completed or "done" today. Write on the Done List tasks that you have completed, after you have done them. That's right, you don't get to add an item to your Done List until after you complete it.
For example:
Done List 10-20-2013
1. Studied the chapter on Biological Processes in your commercial study program2. Answered 10 questions on a practice test for the EPPP examination
3. Reviewed the answers and explanations of the questions I answered
4. Went to my job
5. Reviewed a few EPPP Study Secrets Flashcards (that I keep handy in my pocket) while waiting on line in the supermarket
6. Ran on the elliptical runner at the gym for 20 minutes
7. Listened to an audio tape of the chapter on Diagnosis while driving home
The Done List focuses your activity powerfully. You will find yourself asking questions such as "What is the most important activity I should do next?" The Done List is flexible and responds to your real time constraints. It helps you to be efficient. Don't write every task on the Done List. Only write down tasks that contribute to important goals and accomplishments.
The motivational power of the Done List is not to be underestimated. Soon you will find yourself working harder to complete tasks just so you can write them on your Done List!
No longer will you feel guilty at all the tasks you didn't complete on your To Do List! No longer will you waste time creating a long list of tasks, many of which you will not even complete. Think how great you will feel as you lay in bed tonight thinking of what your wrote on your Done List today. I did this! I did this, and I did this too!, you will think to yourself contentedly as you drift off to sleep. No more guilt at what you did not do. Instead you put the focus where it belongs: on what you did do today. Instead of feeling defeated for not completing your To Do List, you will feel proud at what you have accomplished each day. This focus on completed tasks is rewarding and motivates you to do even more the next day.
Are your thoughts drifting to worrying about uncompleted tasks? Beating yourself up with unrealistic shoulds, and 20/20 hindsight planning? Stop! Take out your Done List. Review all the tasks you completed successfully today and give yourself a pat on the back. These are tasks that you actually did do. Your focus each day should be on all that you have accomplished, not on what remains to be done. Those are tasks to be added to your Done List- another day.
Give the Done List a try. Share with The EPPP Study Guy how well it works for you in the comments below!
