I’m trying to get a sense of what kinds of things stay on our backlogs and clutter up our mental lives.
When you don’t get to something on your “to do” list on a given day, how long does it stick around before you finally do it or drop it from the list? What kind of things chronically stick around?
For me, it’s: people to call who I haven’t already talked to recently; books to read; low-priority changes to my web site to make; important-but-not-urgent household things (”find that leak in the roof”); financial stuff (”balance checkbook” “pay bills”).
16 responses so far ↓
1 Tony // May 14, 2008 at 9:21 am
All of my undone “2nd tier” to-do’s (unreplied-to emails, unreturned calls, undone projects, etc.) eventually hit a critical mass once a quarter or so. At that point, I’ll literally take the better part of a day to cull them down into Things That Will Go Back To Priority 1, and Things That Will Be Unmercifully Left Behind.
It’s not a perfect system, but it works. And it has the side benefits of a) giving me a “clean slate” 4 times a year, and b) allowing me to rediscover forgotten items that otherwise would have been lost.
2 Jie Cao // May 14, 2008 at 9:25 am
1. keep in touch with friends, via emails and calls
2. read books
3. clean computer
4. clean house
etc….
3 Anna // May 14, 2008 at 9:30 am
For me it’s non-urgent phone calls. I’m a bit of a phone-phobe and really procrastinate those scheduling, follow-up, and other business-type calls.
4 Barbara Nixon // May 14, 2008 at 9:35 am
Two things come immediately to mind. #1 is sew a button on the skort that I want to wear today (button has been off for three months). #2 is call my security company and ask how to make the beeping at 8:00 a.m. every day STOP.
5 Rob Kendrick // May 14, 2008 at 9:55 am
Mine consist of the following:
- People to contact
- Groceries to buy
- Home improvement project priorities
- Cleaning out our barn
- Doing house chores vs. construction
- Books to read
One tool I’ve begun using consistently which helps with this is TiddlyWiki: http://www.tiddlywiki.com/
If you’d like to see how I use it, go here: http://www.robandvikki.com/wiki.html
You can make it as simple or as complex as you like, and can view the page from many mobile browsers (as well as the Nintendo Wii).
I hope this helps!
Rob
6 Erin B // May 14, 2008 at 9:58 am
Every Friday afternoon, I make a list of things I need to do for the following week: phone calls (w/ numbers listed next to them), appointments, e-mails, things to chase down (always seems to be something to correct w/ the health insurance co), household repairs, etc. All those things that aren’t part of the regular routine of chores and work or that I need to set aside time to do, like paying the bills.
If the item doesn’t get done, it goes on the following week’s list…until I finally (painfully!) let go of it. Some things never get done. It can be hard to choose what to let go of. We once had a tussle with an insurance company over money they owed us (short story: they said the doc wasn’t part of the plan and he was; hence we overpaid). Their hurdles were so cumbersome, the items were always on the list, never getting finished. Finally, I just had to give up and let them win (grr…).
If the item isn’t on the Google Calendar or on my list, it doesn’t exist. It has no hope of ever getting done.
7 Diana L-S // May 14, 2008 at 9:58 am
For me it’s usually:
Books to Read
Personal Site Redesign/Updating
Larger projects that would take several weeks or months
Replying back to emails that take more than a few lines.
8 Steve // May 14, 2008 at 10:00 am
Neatening up my Outlook (contact duplicates, fixing calendar, deleting old to dos). Visiting social networking sites where I have profiles and seeing what’s going on. Around the house repairs.
9 People Skills Pro // May 14, 2008 at 10:41 am
Backlog of To do’s? I could fill a few PAGES of stuff…
But here’s some in no particular order: household handyman stuff, clean out garage, low priority networking follow-up, previous client follow-up, business expansion projects, web site additions/revisions…
10 Dino // May 14, 2008 at 11:47 am
When I realised that stuff was getting on my backlog at the end of the day (because of lack of time/motivation to do so), I’d start relegating those to the weekend, exclusively. That is, about a year ago, I noticed that I never cook slow cooking things, like beans, during the week. Even though I have a crock pot, I’d have to set it in the morning, season it at night, and freeze any leftovers. Even if I had extra time on the morning, I’d end up spending it on making a more elaborate breakfast, or catching up on other weekday stuff.
Other such trends I noticed were emails to old friends, phone calls to mom (outside of the 5 minute ones, that is), getting small appliances repaired, and any proof reading work for my writing.
I don’t put these sorts of things on my daily to-do list anymore, because I find that it just leaves me feeling frustrated that I can never seem to get to them in a timely fashion. Instead, I put them on my weekend to-do list. Since it is my days off, I don’t feel bad if I don’t get to them, but I do feel good if I finish any of them.
11 Kate Olson // May 14, 2008 at 12:16 pm
My backlog tends to be things that I REALLY don’t want to do, like paying bills, balancing the checkbook, cleaning my office. I don’t bother putting anything on my to-do list if it doesn’t NEED to be done, so a bill that’s due gets on the list, but cleaning my office doesn’t. As for other work, anything that’s not paying work gets pushed off until I have time free for it.
12 Jim Sewell // May 14, 2008 at 1:08 pm
For me it is anything not “now”. I sometimes wonder if I’m ADD because I’m like the cows in the race on the commercial - “I’m gonna win! I’m going to win this time! Oh, daisies!”
Being somewhat of a go-to person on and off the job means many are making requests for things to be done all the time. The most recent typically replaces all others unless it’s low priority, in which case it gets forgotten.
Lack of discipline and focus makes a list useless for following what to do next. It only reminds me of what I didn’t do *if* I get the time to look at it. If it is more than 5 minutes old and I didn’t put it on a calendar or list it’s gone… much like Erin said.
If I did keep a list regularly it would have personal web site updates, make out a proper budget, tie up loose ends I left in haste - especially in the programs I write for work, etc.
13 Ade C // May 14, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I’ve got a backlog as long as my arm. There are tasks which are on the someday/maybe list (which is turning out to be more of a “probably not” list).
I feel like “Statler and Waldorf” from the muppets: It’s a great idea put it on the list; it’s an okay idea I’ll get around to it sometime; it’s not that good; it’s a horrendous idea.”
The list includes things list:
* Watch “essential” training webinars and company updates (from 2 years ago?)
* Tidy garage (been on the list for several years probably since shortly after moving house)
* Keep in contact with (now not-so) close friends
* General DIY tasks
14 Wendywindflowers // May 14, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Tasks that are non-urgent and require thought/concentration, such as:
-Books to read (a popular one!)
-Re-design my filing system
-Darning clothing
-Things to buy (such as books, if I need to decide which would be the best books on a certain topic, and from where)
Some of these To-Dos have been hanging around for years! I guess in most cases I’m putting it off just to avoid the decision-making process!
15 Michael Purpura // May 14, 2008 at 10:26 pm
All of them are things that either take more than a certain amount of time or that require spending more than a certain amount of money, or both.
16 sweska // May 20, 2008 at 9:30 am
- organising my trip photos… think that takes time as well!
- books to read
- receipt collations
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