3 Steps to Overcoming Your List-Writing Addiction

I got an email this week from a regular reader of this blog asking me for some help. She writes:

“What should I do if I’m spending more time writing out lists than crossing off tasks on those lists?”

Given that we make the most lists around holiday season I imagine a few of you might be suffering from this same problem, so I thought I would share my advice with you.

Here are three steps to over coming a list-writing addiction:

Evaluate – Writing a list is only the first step. Once you’ve written your list, assess it and cut it up into doable sections. For example, make sure to separate ‘things that need to be done today’ from more general to-dos that have a later deadline.

Prioritize – Write the essential items on your onto a Post-it note and stick that over your list. Only once you’ve crossed off the essentials can you move on to the rest of the list.

Divide & Conquer – Divide your weekly list into daily lists. Then you can focus on the Monday list without worrying about what happening the rest of the week.

Hope this helps!

For more list-making tips check out my book Listful Thinking: Using Lists to be More Productive, Highly Successful and Less Stressed.