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Anti-procrastination Hacks: Dynamic Unordered Todo List
mouser:
This is a really trivial thing, but as I have found it so useful in a recent project I felt the need to post about it and give it a fancy name.
Essentially I am just reporting that one thing I have found particularly helpful in avoid procrastination on a project is to keep a list (in a google doc in this case) of tons of random unordered "mini-tasks" that need to be done for the project.
So it's just a to-do list that we all know about.
But the point is to have a list you can add to and delete from at any time in any order.
I have found this so useful in avoiding procrastination because I can always find SOME SMALL ITEM that I can perform and delete from this list.
And I wanted to argue for the psychological benefits of this over having a much more structured ORDERED plan where you have to do A then B then C.
While such ordered plans are more logical and efficient, I have found that they lead to real psychological roadblocks when you get to some point your mind doesn't want to work on.
Having a list of lots of items big and small, in all different areas, is a great way to help get yourself to mentally just start on something.
And you can always switch gears and be productive by ADDING ITEMS to the list, which can be useful when your brain otherwise is refusing to be productive.
Anyone else have any tricks they use to avoid procrastinating?
wraith808:
I got in on a kickstarter for OnTask. It's a very simple concept, but it works. It's a three sided white board basically. Every day I put the three tasks I want to get done, and sit it in front of me. I work on the first until it's done, then erase it. Then the second and do the same. Then the third. If my day isn't over, I do it again. It keeps me from multi-tasking, which in turn, stops me from procrastinating, since I think that my major reason for procrastinating is multi-tasking.
Deozaan:
Essentially I am just reporting that one thing I have found particularly helpful in avoid procrastination on a project is to keep a list (in a google doc in this case) of tons of random unordered "mini-tasks" that need to be done for the project.
So it's just a to-do list that we all know about.
But the point is to have a list you can add to and delete from at any time in any order.-mouser (June 30, 2017, 04:16 AM)
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Sounds like a basic Trello board to me. Which I believe is based on the scrum agile development philosophy's taskboard.
wraith808:
Sounds like a basic Trello board to me. Which I believe is based on the scrum agile development philosophy's taskboard.
-Deozaan (June 30, 2017, 08:26 PM)
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No, it's a bit different than agile- we use that at work (and have tried trello) and those are for different concerns. The purpose of an agile board (and trello) is not in the implementation, but the backlog. You groom stories in order to have a backlog of things to work on. So you always keep the backlog full ideally, and groom continuously to have quality stories to bring in during the next sprint. There is also the iterative nature of the sprint that is not there with ontask, and the concept of increasing velocity as you sprint along. You also don't necessarily work on one thing- switching stories is a very real thing to do in Agile. Kanban is a bit closer, but then again, you have the ability to shift priorities in Kanban also.
With OnTask (at least the way that I use it) I consider my day, and just put down the three things I want to get accomplished, whatever they might be. And I work on one at a time. I don't have to think about priorities or competing concerns once I put down my three things to complete. They might not even be the highest priorities - just stuff I want to get off my plate. And I just work the one thing until it's done.
Deozaan:
Sorry, I meant to specify that I was responding to mouser's idea. Not your 3-item todo list. :) I'll update the message to reflect that.
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