Productivity systems are everywhere on the Internet. Getting things done, it seems, is a universal goal, and one we all want to do better in.
All productivity systems boil down to two simple, straightforward, instructions:
1. Write down the things you want to get done
2. And then do them
How wonderfully simple in theory – but how fiendishly difficult in practice!
Why Productivity fails
Most of us have no trouble with Step 1 of the process. However, for many of us, Step 1 is the process, and that is the problem with productivity systems. They fail because at some stage, in order to get things done, you actually have to do the things you want to get done.
If you don’t do them, for whatever reason, then you haven’t got a productivity system. What you’ve got is just another distraction – another obstacle between you and your productivity.
Productivity that works?
But what if there was a system that did work? A system that made you feel obliged to carry out the tasks of Step 2? And feel good about doing them?
There is such a system. All that it requires is an adjustment in your attitude to the tasks themselves. You have to place yourself in a new relation to the things you want to get done.
Use your superstitions
Have ever avoided walking under a ladder? When you were out walking as a child, did you play the game “step on a crack, break your mother’s back”, and then take special care not to step on a crack?
If you have ever entertained such low-level, common superstitions, then this productivity system could work for you.
Here is the revised system - it’s very simple, and very effective:
- Write down your things to do, with the clear and solemn understanding that there will be dire consequences for yourself if those things are not done
In other words, the stuff you write down is equivalent to a contract, signed in blood, with yourself. You are your own judge and jury in this matter. You will know whether you breach the contract or not. And how are you going to feel about that?
Let’s look at a concrete example: the production of this article. For today, I wrote down “write article on Productivity” – and here I am doing it.
Now, if this was a regular Productivity system, I guarantee I would not have done this today. I have a good book to read, some random Internet browsing to do, and a TV show to watch. I would have put off the article and might never have got around to it.
But because I have “enchanted” my to-do list with low-level superstition, I knew that if I didn’t get it done today, I would have no inner peace.
That is the crux of this system: whatever goes down on the list gets done, or else. OR ELSE.
(Or else what? I don’t know. And I don’t want to find out.)
The Tools of Productivity
Try it now. Think of something you want to get done. Break it down into a chunk of action that you can realistically do today. It's time to start your List.
This system is all about the sacred space of that List, wherever it is located and whatever it is called. The list can be a blank page in a notebook, a document on your computer, a calendar on a smartphone.
Look at that blank space, and know, feel, that whatever you write down in there absolutely has to be done.
That’s all there is to it.
Problems with Productivity
This kind of customized productivity system can fail, just like any other. It depends on your individual psychology. You might not “get it”.
If you have invested your List with the appropriate solemnity and superstition, you will indeed find yourself making extraordinary and unaccustomed efforts to get things done.
The main problem arises through over-enthusiasm.
It’s tempting, after discovering the effectiveness of menacing oneself with supernatural consequences, to overload the system. “TUESDAY – WRITE 20,000 WORDS OF NOVEL!”
That kind of thing is an abuse of the system, and you are setting yourself up to fail. Overloading to some extent is actually a fine way to force yourself into extraordinary efforts, but always keep things in proportion.
Of course, it’s up to you what goes on that list. If you feel like a lazy day, leave it empty, or only put one or two “easy” items in there.
When you grasp the seriousness with which you should view your tasks in the list, that’s when you have grasped this system.
John McNamara - I'm currently studying for an Open University degree, whilst trying to write my fifth (or is it sixth now?) unpublished novel. On top of ...
