There is so much to do! How can I get this all done? I mean, really! Look at this to do list. It’s ridiculous. It felt great to create the list. It was an accomplishment in and of itself. All I needed to do was get it done, and everything would be clear. The path to peace of mind, satisfaction, fulfillment, whatever, would be in my grasp. Moreover, you would find it through a comprehensive, all-encompassing to do list.
When we finish that list we experience the same Spark of Joy Marie Kondo notes when we organize our drawers or clean out our closets. I’m not at all kidding when I say that after being inspired by Marie Kondo, I spent some time thinking about my kitchen drawers. The result was something I admired for the next several days. I could open my junk drawer, my utensil drawer, and my container drawer and find what I needed, blindfolded. Spark of Joy indeed! Each act of tidying up required some serious thought and a decision about what to keep.
However, what of our to-do lists? Well, these require a similar kind of approach as in evaluating the worthiness of our open loops. They demand careful curation.
Isaiah Hankel. Ph.D. in his influential book “The Science of Intelligent Achievement - How Smart People Focus, Create and Grow their way to Success” identifies the items on our to-do lists as “ Open Mental Loops.” Our most valuable commodity is our Mental Energy, and massive, uncharted to do lists tend to sap us of this elemental resource.
Consider taking a full day to gather all of your “open mental loops” in one place. Just like cleaning out your garage, unearth everything and get a good look at the whole mess. Take each item into your hand and apply the 4 D’s:
- Delete: It just doesn’t matter
- Do: Immediately Actionable
- Delegate: Someone else should be doing this for you
- Defer: There isn’t enough information, enough time or enough urgency - Something for future reference.
As you get more clarity, you will be able to manage all of these open mental loops much more effectively. Moreover, you will better preserve your valuable mental energy reserving it for those creative, challenging “first thing in the morning” projects. Ultimately this will boost your PRODUCTIVITY and effectiveness.
