Why To-Do list fails?

The To-Do list tool has been developed and is widely accepted and used. In the process of goal management, the To-Do list also has a unique and clear usage scenario as an important tool in the planning stage.

Due to the convenience of To-Do lists, some of our friends will use a mere list tool for goal management, and we would like to warn some possible misconceptions about the use of this.

Doing tasks without a purpose is a punishment

If you don't know the meaning of something, your motivation will be greatly reduced even if you are given clear orders. Who likes to accept a task without a goal? During World War II, the army had a rule that a soldier who made a mistake had to dig a deep hole in the ground and fill it up. For soldiers used to exertion, the worst part of this act was that it made no sense. Doing a task without a purpose is a punishment.

Do your tasks have a relationship to a specific goal? We often forget this when we make lists.

By listing every task that comes to mind without linking it to a specific goal, we end up "doing things for the sake of doing things" and spend a lot of time on to-do's that are not important to us in the long run. For example, let's say one of the tasks on my list for tomorrow is to "update an article", which is what I think I need to do. But what is the reason for updating the article? What is the content to be updated? What is the topic of the article? One of the most critical questions to think about is: What do I want to achieve by updating the article?

Using a To-Do list for goal management, we inadvertently shift our attention and focus from a global goal to a specific task, and this is where we need to be vigilant.

To-Do list requires filters

A To-Do list should be more than just a list of tasks; it should be a thoughtful process, and goal-setting front-loads and standardizes that thought process.

Some people are so ambitious that they make a long list of tasks for themselves, but in fact, this is not necessarily a good thing. As mentioned in the book "Self-Control", it takes an executive more than a week to do all the tasks on his or her to-do list for a day. So on each day, we are going to have to have to decide in our lists what to do and what not to do, what to do first and what to do second. Cognitive resources are consumed quickly when we are making decisions. Both simple and complex decisions can cause cognitive depletion. Faced with a long list of to-do's, our stress level can skyrocket and we are more likely to be distracted from our choices.

We need to avoid adding tasks to the To-Do list in an uncontrolled manner, each time the task is organized is a waste of energy and time. Goals can act as a filter for your To-Do list, helping you prioritize your tasks, filter out tasks that are not relevant to your goals, and filter out the tasks that are really important in your To-Do list.

Summary

In order to achieve our goals, we need to move from a list mentality of "what am I going to do" to a goal mentality of "what am I going to do this for". We often avoid setting goals because it's hard, the future is always vague, hazy, and uncertain, and looking ahead is not as easy as looking back. But to achieve meaningful results, you need to believe that these difficulties are worth overcoming.

How do you start setting a meaningful goal? Read How to find your goal? and 6 Steps of goal management, two articles in which we go into detail about how to find big goals and how to follow through with them.