If you’re reading this site, you will almost certainly have a to-do list of some form. It might be jotted down on a sheet of paper or it may be an elaborate list of next actions stored on your computer. These lists are important because they allow you to see and track what needs doing. They stop you from forgetting stuff and allow you to get those nagging thoughts out of your head. But the benefits go on. When you have completed a task on your to-do list what do you do?
Hopefully you’ll tick it off. That’s right, a nice big tick. Of maybe if you’re feeling adventurous you might put a cross. I personally choose to be particularly rebellious and completely scribble out the task (nothing is more final and screams, “I’ve finished it!” than a load of scribble). Ticking something off as complete is the simplest and easiest motivational tool you could ever do. Make sure that whatever system you have allows you to do this. If it’s paper based make sure there is a nice, big tick box you can use. If it’s software based, a massive fireworks and fanfare animation when you finish a task would really get the point across. Just a little suggestion for all you developers out there.
When you are on a roll there is nothing quite like breaking down a big list of tasks and ticking them off one by one. But, you can also be a little sneaky with it. There is no reason why you can’t add something you’ve just done to your list, in hindsight, just so you can tick it off. Is it cheating? Well, I won’t tell if you don’t…
Productivity Tips: 10 Clever Ideas For Getting Things Done is an updated and expanded collection of the first ten posts in my popular productivity tips series and is now available to all. For full information please view its dedicated page.
December 4, 2008 at 09:40AM
Totally agree with you. That small move with our hand and scratch on the paper with pencil seems like a nonsense, but it makes for very big relief.
December 5, 2008 at 06:01PM
It sure does, thanks for the comment.