{"id":21314,"date":"2021-10-22T09:55:22","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T16:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?p=21314"},"modified":"2021-10-22T10:02:14","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T17:02:14","slug":"why-list-is-a-dirty-word-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2021\/10\/why-list-is-a-dirty-word-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Why “List” is a Dirty Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I have shared my own personal system in my presentations, someone always says, \u201cYou\u2019ve got so many LISTS!\u2019 with a tone of voice that really translates into \u201cHow silly and stupid! There\u2019s no way that could work for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s wrong with lists? I understand their negative reactions. Most people haven’t had a lot of success with lists, especially the ones they’ve tried to use to \u201cget organized.\u201d<\/p>\n

You are either attracted or repelled by your lists and everything on them. There is no neutral territory. When you look at any one item you will either be thinking to yourself, \u201cHey, when can I mark THAT off?\u201d or \u201cYuck! Back away!\u201d My educated guess is that 98 per cent of people\u2019s responses are some version of the latter.<\/p>\n

Why? Because 1) they\u2019re hard work and\/or 2) they\u2019re scary and\/or 3) they\u2019re disappointing.<\/p>\n

1) Hard work. If you know a list of calls to make is not every single call you have to make on every open loop in your life, you will feel that you still have to be remembering things that aren\u2019t on the list. That\u2019s low-level and hard work for your psyche, so it\u2019s not really getting the relief from the list it is seeking. If you don\u2019t have everything out of your head, it hardly feels worth trying to keep ANYthing out of your head. Also, most big to-do lists have things grouped together on them that cannot be done in the context you are in at the time, and a lot of repetitive re-thinking (unconstructive mental effort) is required to figure out what could be moved on in the moment vs. what can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

2) Scary. If a to-do on your list is not the very next physical visible action to be done, there is a gap between current reality and what you are looking at, and it can trigger a subtle but very real sense of being out of control with what to do about it every time you glance at it.<\/p>\n

3) Disappointing. Ever had to rewrite a list of things you didn\u2019t get done when you thought you should? People who try to work daily to-do lists usually have undone things at the end of the day that created guilt and the trouble of having to transfer them to the next day.<\/p>\n

So, to change your relationship with \u201clists\u201d to a more positive one:<\/p>\n

1) Make them complete, so your brain gets to graduate from the job of remembering; and organize your action reminders by context (phone, computer, errands, at home, etc.) so you only need to review what you actually can do at the time.<\/p>\n

2) Make sure every actionable item has the very next visible physical action identified along with it, so you don\u2019t freak out about unknown territory between here and there.<\/p>\n

3) Only put items that cannot be done any other day on your calendar, and everything else hold in \u201cas soon as I can get to them\u201d lists.<\/p>\n

I suppose \u201clove your lists\u201d would be a little too much to ask. But how about at least good friends?<\/p>\n

For much more content like this in video, audio, and text formats, get a free 14-day membership in GTD Connect<\/a>, our online community and content library.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I have shared my own personal system in my presentations, someone always says, \u201cYou\u2019ve got so many LISTS!\u2019 with a tone of voice that really translates into \u201cHow silly and stupid! There\u2019s no way that could work for me.\u201d What\u2019s wrong with lists? I understand their negative reactions. Most people haven’t had a lot … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Why “List” is a Dirty Word”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-david-allen","category-featured","category-productivity-tips","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy "List" is a Dirty Word - Getting Things Done\u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Make sure your lists are complete, that every actionable item has the very next action identified, and only put items that cannot be done any other day on your calendar.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2021\/10\/why-list-is-a-dirty-word-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why "List" is a Dirty Word\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Make sure your lists are complete, that every actionable item has the very next action identified, and only put items that cannot be done any other day on your calendar.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2021\/10\/why-list-is-a-dirty-word-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Getting Things Done\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-22T16:55:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-22T17:02:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/DA_Sitting_wBig_Smile_Outside_LoRes_72DPI.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"758\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2021\/10\/why-list-is-a-dirty-word-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2021\/10\/why-list-is-a-dirty-word-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\"},\"headline\":\"Why “List” is a Dirty Word\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-22T16:55:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-22T17:02:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2021\/10\/why-list-is-a-dirty-word-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":560,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2021\/10\/why-list-is-a-dirty-word-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/DA_Sitting_wBig_Smile_Outside_LoRes_72DPI.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"David Allen\",\"Featured\",\"Productivity Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2021\/10\/why-list-is-a-dirty-word-2\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2021\/10\/why-list-is-a-dirty-word-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2021\/10\/why-list-is-a-dirty-word-2\/\",\"name\":\"Why \\\"List\\\" is a Dirty Word - 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