I don't know about most people, but this works terribly for me. Motivation is huge for my happiness, so I want to do something when I'm in the mood for it.
This means I do keep a list of the things I need to get done, so whenever I've got free time, I take a look at the list and see what I'm most in the mood to do.
Of course, this is the real world -- sometimes something has a firm deadline so you have no choice (so of course you do things you aren't in the mood for).
But I want to run errands when I'm in the mood to go outside. I want to go to them gym when I'm feeling energetic. I want to wash dishes or clean my apartment when my brain is conked out anyways. I want to work on a hobby when I'm feeling creative. I want to read a book when I'm feeling relaxed.
Or at work, I might be in the mood for writing e-mails, or working on a presentation, or chatting about a project, or catching up on reading. They'll all get done eventually, but why not do the one you'll most enjoy at the moment, as long as you can?
And I know myself well enough to know I never have any idea what I'm going to feel when. Will I be feeling energetic or creative or conked out tonight after work? Tomorrow when I wake up? The day after on my lunch break? Who knows!
Scheduling time to do my things is a disaster for my happiness. I'm sure it can work for other people, but it's not for everyone.
>I don't know about most people, but this works terribly for me. Motivation is huge for my happiness, so I want to do something when I'm in the mood for it.
That's a sure-fire recipe for never doing most things one needs to do, because most of those things are not things that one looks forward to anyway.
Even for the core work someone does (e.g. writing for a writer), people mention time and again that setting up times in advance and committing to them works better than getting in the mood.
I concur. If you schedule in advance, it's much easier to break through the initial emotional barrier of starting the thing you're anxious about.
I used to hate scheduling, now I swear by it. The change was entirely in my understanding what "scheduling" means. I used to treat this as iron-strong commitments. Those made me dislike scheduling because I felt I'm losing autonomy over my own life. Now, I treat scheduling in advance as my best-effort plan for efficiently doing what I want, subject to revision at any point I deem necessary. I found allowing myself to shuffle the schedule around as I need made it feel liberating, and my worries about losing autonomy pretty much disappeared.
Depends on what makes you happy, though. If you focus on the satisfaction of crossing a dreaded task off the list after you've been avoiding it for a few days, that can make the task an attractive choice.
This mentality can be a little dangerous. You're training yourself to cater to your moods. This can result in important but not urgent tasks that you're never really in the mood to do never getting done. Or, if it's a task that has to be done, a lot of resistance because you're used to waiting for motivation to kick in.
For me, a better approach has been to consciously force myself to do things I don't feel like doing. I push through low energy, distractions, or boredom and just get it done.
You might expect this to lead to sub-optimal performance or suffering through unenjoyable tasks. Sometimes it does, but in my experience, a more common result is the good feeling of having pushed through a barrier and found a second, or third wind.
I used to try this method, but it's never worked for me. My productivity is so incredibly low when I'm trying to work on something I don't want to do that it's just a big waste of time.
If it's something actually important I'll do it eventually. If it's something I truly dread, I might do it at the last possible moment, but I'll do it.
Different approaches work for different people. I wish people would understand that, instead of assuming that what works for other people is ~secretly harmful~ and they should just use what works for the speaker.
The first and only ironclad law of productivity is "Do what works."
The main point of the article is not that scheduling is superior to TODO lists. Instead it is that continually adding to a TODO list is bad and instead making a schedule makes that impossible.
I feel using a TODO list with time estimates would give the benefits from the article was also letting you schedule flexibly as you feel like it. By putting the time estimates in it makes it easier to say no to tasks that don't have to be done.
It's a term I came up with as I observed myself making todo lists, completing them, feeling good about it, but realizing that I'm not getting from A to B on important projects. It's (comparatively) easy to make todo items like 'buy milk', 'get haircut', 'go on date with X', 'read 1 chapter of <book>', but these are what I call trivial accomplishments. Having a todo list 100% made up of these is a good way to fool yourself, because you will feel good about yourself (for a while), because that's just how we work, the illusion of progress fools the brain.
Way out: Separate todo lists into trivial and non-trivial, eg. I have a separate Trello list for each. Make sure your non-trivial list is not empty and you make progress on it. Hard items are writing/output versus reading/input. Another good way to identify them is if they're about Deliberate Practice.
Totally agree that scheduling is not for everyone. I've also read a lot of so called productivity expert saying that you should write down all the things in mind without bothering scheduling them. IMHO, there's no single solution for personal productivity boost but to work hard and figure out the best solution for yourself.
Different tools for different cases. What I find helpful (as long as I'm in a mood to stick to it):
- Writing down all the things in my mind (i.e. mind dump) - tremendously reduces my stress and clears my head; a good mind dump makes my mind feel temporary empty, unburdened. After doing that I usually quickly review what I wrote down and make a conscious decision about what to do with each item (e.g. put it on a TODO list, ignore it, shoot a mail about it and forget), so that those things don't start immediately cluttering my head again.
- Big todo lists - mostly useful to keep track of random errands that I'd otherwise have to remember. I'm e.g. happy to tell that I don't remember when my rent is due, or when I have to remind a friend about sending me the details of a project - but I'm confident that my todo list will remind me at the appropriate moment.
- Improvised, throwaway todo lists - help me focus on a difficult task through the process of breaking it down into steps small enough I can execute them one-by-one without getting a panic attack.
- Scheduling - works for me if I schedule blocks dedicated to particular task or project - like "work", "project X", "random", "HN break". Helps me focus without triggering my otherwise usual anxiety attacks. Also I make sure to schedule "random / shallow work" blocks regularly, which exist to ensure I do process my todo lists, that would otherwise go stale.
"When you schedule things, you are forced to deal with the fact that there are only so many hours in a week. You’re forced to make choices rather than add something to a never ending to-do list that only becomes a source of anxiety."
Great observation. I get the feeling scheduling is something that MBAs are taught, where "time is the restriction". What about JIT scheduling? In my view, adding dates to every task is another BS and unnecessary task. Here's an alternative restriction, tasks per day. "Ivy Ledbetter Lee" (business productivity guru 100 years ago) had another approach. Spend 15min at end of day doing the following:
* specify six tasks you need to finish
* prioritise them one to six
* do each task, in order, till finished
* work your arse off
* left-over tasks are added to tomorrows list
* repeat
The restriction here is how many tasks I NEED to do TODAY. Read more about "Ivy Ledbetter Lee" below.
Are you overworked or super stressed? You should not forget things this easily - I was the same in the first half of the year, and it was due to almost unbearable stress.
The greatest insight I had when it comes to time management came from a surprising source. I had played around a bit with Pomodoro for my typical intellectual tasks (research, programming etc.) with no real success.
Then on a summer weekend my sister asked me to help her renovate her apartment, specifically I was tasked with the removal of all the wallpapers. I said sure, give me the key and I'll get going over the weekend and actually dropped by Friday after work...by chance I had my Pomodoro timer in my work backpack. I looked around and came to the conclusion that I had absolutely no idea how long it would take me to tear everything down. So I guessed how much I could do in 25 minutes, set the timer (25 minutes) and went to work. I got less done than expected and I suppose you could say I started a Bayesian process of sorts updating my priors but most importantly I realized that knowing how much time something roughly takes is extremely valuable in scheduling work.
I went on to calculate roughly how many tomatoes it would take to get each room done and since there wasn't much time left on the Friday figured I could get one of the tiny ones done. It worked, the estimation was fairly accurate and I actually caught myself trying to beat my estimates. On Saturday I had a great plan and a firm goal (get the living room and one extra room done). I eventually settled in on 2 tomatoes followed by a 15 minute break. Worked great.
tl;dr: Ever since that I get more done whenever I know how long it'll roughly take. That means exploring is very valuable. For new tasks I estimate in tomatoes, draw a circle for each and get going. When it takes longer I add squares and once the task is done I update my mental image of how long it'll take in the future.
Whenever I don't know how long something might take I tend to procrastinate a lot until I force myself to timebox it. I think most interesting tasks tend to fall in this category.
I think the big mistake of people talking about productivity is the idea that a single formula works for everyone. For example, I finally discovered that I am most productive when I have no todo lists. I just work better by simply picking whatever has highest priority in my mind and doing it. The point is, if something is important it should be on your mind. If it is not, it probably is not important or urgent. Of course, if something needs to be remembered you make notes, but nothing similar to a todo list. Whenever I have a todo list I instinctively start to slack off.
How about this - different people respond well to different organizational methods? Perhaps like many things there is not a one size fits all solution.
For me, todo lists in the form of a Kanban board with columns that hold longer term "need to remember" tasks really help so I don't forget those things. And when I am sitting idle wondering what to do next, I have a list ready (unless something else pops up that is higher priority).
I think over scheduling might lead to its own inflexibility and paralysis as well. But it might work great for some people!
I've been trying having 2 lists. One I call the bucket, where I have things I need to do but don't know when yet. And the other is for things I need to do today. So when today is depleted I pull stuff from the bucket. The only challenge here is putting realistic tasks for the 'today' list. I've noticed that I can only put like 2 or 3 max to actually make this work. The best part of making a very short list is that you can actually finish it, and it kinda motivates you to do a little extra if you have time.
Readit News
This means I do keep a list of the things I need to get done, so whenever I've got free time, I take a look at the list and see what I'm most in the mood to do.
Of course, this is the real world -- sometimes something has a firm deadline so you have no choice (so of course you do things you aren't in the mood for).
But I want to run errands when I'm in the mood to go outside. I want to go to them gym when I'm feeling energetic. I want to wash dishes or clean my apartment when my brain is conked out anyways. I want to work on a hobby when I'm feeling creative. I want to read a book when I'm feeling relaxed.
Or at work, I might be in the mood for writing e-mails, or working on a presentation, or chatting about a project, or catching up on reading. They'll all get done eventually, but why not do the one you'll most enjoy at the moment, as long as you can?
And I know myself well enough to know I never have any idea what I'm going to feel when. Will I be feeling energetic or creative or conked out tonight after work? Tomorrow when I wake up? The day after on my lunch break? Who knows!
Scheduling time to do my things is a disaster for my happiness. I'm sure it can work for other people, but it's not for everyone.
That's a sure-fire recipe for never doing most things one needs to do, because most of those things are not things that one looks forward to anyway.
Even for the core work someone does (e.g. writing for a writer), people mention time and again that setting up times in advance and committing to them works better than getting in the mood.
I used to hate scheduling, now I swear by it. The change was entirely in my understanding what "scheduling" means. I used to treat this as iron-strong commitments. Those made me dislike scheduling because I felt I'm losing autonomy over my own life. Now, I treat scheduling in advance as my best-effort plan for efficiently doing what I want, subject to revision at any point I deem necessary. I found allowing myself to shuffle the schedule around as I need made it feel liberating, and my worries about losing autonomy pretty much disappeared.
For me, a better approach has been to consciously force myself to do things I don't feel like doing. I push through low energy, distractions, or boredom and just get it done.
You might expect this to lead to sub-optimal performance or suffering through unenjoyable tasks. Sometimes it does, but in my experience, a more common result is the good feeling of having pushed through a barrier and found a second, or third wind.
If it's something actually important I'll do it eventually. If it's something I truly dread, I might do it at the last possible moment, but I'll do it.
The first and only ironclad law of productivity is "Do what works."
"When hungry, eat. When tired, sleep!"
I feel using a TODO list with time estimates would give the benefits from the article was also letting you schedule flexibly as you feel like it. By putting the time estimates in it makes it easier to say no to tasks that don't have to be done.
It's a term I came up with as I observed myself making todo lists, completing them, feeling good about it, but realizing that I'm not getting from A to B on important projects. It's (comparatively) easy to make todo items like 'buy milk', 'get haircut', 'go on date with X', 'read 1 chapter of <book>', but these are what I call trivial accomplishments. Having a todo list 100% made up of these is a good way to fool yourself, because you will feel good about yourself (for a while), because that's just how we work, the illusion of progress fools the brain.
Way out: Separate todo lists into trivial and non-trivial, eg. I have a separate Trello list for each. Make sure your non-trivial list is not empty and you make progress on it. Hard items are writing/output versus reading/input. Another good way to identify them is if they're about Deliberate Practice.
- Writing down all the things in my mind (i.e. mind dump) - tremendously reduces my stress and clears my head; a good mind dump makes my mind feel temporary empty, unburdened. After doing that I usually quickly review what I wrote down and make a conscious decision about what to do with each item (e.g. put it on a TODO list, ignore it, shoot a mail about it and forget), so that those things don't start immediately cluttering my head again.
- Big todo lists - mostly useful to keep track of random errands that I'd otherwise have to remember. I'm e.g. happy to tell that I don't remember when my rent is due, or when I have to remind a friend about sending me the details of a project - but I'm confident that my todo list will remind me at the appropriate moment.
- Improvised, throwaway todo lists - help me focus on a difficult task through the process of breaking it down into steps small enough I can execute them one-by-one without getting a panic attack.
- Scheduling - works for me if I schedule blocks dedicated to particular task or project - like "work", "project X", "random", "HN break". Helps me focus without triggering my otherwise usual anxiety attacks. Also I make sure to schedule "random / shallow work" blocks regularly, which exist to ensure I do process my todo lists, that would otherwise go stale.
Great observation. I get the feeling scheduling is something that MBAs are taught, where "time is the restriction". What about JIT scheduling? In my view, adding dates to every task is another BS and unnecessary task. Here's an alternative restriction, tasks per day. "Ivy Ledbetter Lee" (business productivity guru 100 years ago) had another approach. Spend 15min at end of day doing the following:
* specify six tasks you need to finish
* prioritise them one to six
* do each task, in order, till finished
* work your arse off
* left-over tasks are added to tomorrows list
* repeat
The restriction here is how many tasks I NEED to do TODAY. Read more about "Ivy Ledbetter Lee" below.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12999116
Having a todo list at hand to write these things down means I don't lose them, even if I don't look at them again for weeks or months.
Not sure where you'd put this on a Calendar.
Then on a summer weekend my sister asked me to help her renovate her apartment, specifically I was tasked with the removal of all the wallpapers. I said sure, give me the key and I'll get going over the weekend and actually dropped by Friday after work...by chance I had my Pomodoro timer in my work backpack. I looked around and came to the conclusion that I had absolutely no idea how long it would take me to tear everything down. So I guessed how much I could do in 25 minutes, set the timer (25 minutes) and went to work. I got less done than expected and I suppose you could say I started a Bayesian process of sorts updating my priors but most importantly I realized that knowing how much time something roughly takes is extremely valuable in scheduling work.
I went on to calculate roughly how many tomatoes it would take to get each room done and since there wasn't much time left on the Friday figured I could get one of the tiny ones done. It worked, the estimation was fairly accurate and I actually caught myself trying to beat my estimates. On Saturday I had a great plan and a firm goal (get the living room and one extra room done). I eventually settled in on 2 tomatoes followed by a 15 minute break. Worked great.
tl;dr: Ever since that I get more done whenever I know how long it'll roughly take. That means exploring is very valuable. For new tasks I estimate in tomatoes, draw a circle for each and get going. When it takes longer I add squares and once the task is done I update my mental image of how long it'll take in the future.
Whenever I don't know how long something might take I tend to procrastinate a lot until I force myself to timebox it. I think most interesting tasks tend to fall in this category.
For me, todo lists in the form of a Kanban board with columns that hold longer term "need to remember" tasks really help so I don't forget those things. And when I am sitting idle wondering what to do next, I have a list ready (unless something else pops up that is higher priority).
I think over scheduling might lead to its own inflexibility and paralysis as well. But it might work great for some people!
https://steveblank.com/2010/10/07/strategy-is-not-a-to-do-li...
Deleted Comment