How to achieve more using ONE long list and ONE good question!

Are you a list person too?!  I’m very forgetful if I don’t write everything down. I used to think that was a bad thing but I’ve been doing lots of reading about our working memories and now understand this: our working memories are very small,  easily overloaded, and work better if we empty them regularly!

The best way of emptying our working memory is to write stuff down. And the best way to write stuff down? Lists. Lists! Lists! Lists!

Even better, turns out that lists are one of the best ways to help you ACHIEVE more too. And by that I mean getting the RIGHT stuff done rather than just getting loads of itty bitty stuff ticked off.

Here’s the way to do it:

1. Write EVERYTHING you need to do down on a list. It took me a while to grasp this but now that I do indeed write “everything” I’m better at prioritising (see below!)

2. One big enormous gigantic list is FINE! In fact for point 6 below, it’s BEST!

3. If you like a few list (I do!) then try limiting it to these three:  “Do today”, “Do this week”, “Do sometime”. But remember to check them all when you get to point 6.

4. Keep your list with you at all times so you can quickly add things on to it. I know that’s a little obvious but I even take my list on walks (as that’s when I remember all the stuff I need to do!)

5. Have a simple list device. My first love is pen and paper but I use an app so I don’t (ahem) lose my list.

6. Finally, and I’m saving the best till last here, when you’re ready to move onto your next task take a look at your list and ask yourself “Which of these is the BEST way for me to spend MY time right now?”

When you’ve got EVERYTHING on a list, and ask the “Which of these is the BEST way I could be spending my time?”question you will find it a gazillion times easier to spend your time on the right stuff, rather than just the easy peasy (crappy) bits. YAY!

What do you think?!

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