Before I dive into this post, I want to point out that I wholeheartedly do advocate the use of To-Do lists. My experiences with using them have been incredibly positive. My life became more organized. I’ve been able to accomplish more tasks which will eventually lead me to reach my goals.
There are two reasons why I wanted to do a post featuring the downsides of To-Do lists, despite my feelings towards them. The first is that the early days of my adopting this process were incredibly difficult. I gave up many times. This is my opportunity to discuss what went wrong and why it was detrimental to my progress. The second reason I want to write about the downsides is that not everyone will benefit from this practice. If you know yourself well, then exploring the downsides may save you a lot of time and grief.
Here are three major downsides to using To-Do lists. These are problems that I experienced while figuring out how to incorporate using To-Do lists in my daily life. I’ll also include the ways I was able to get around them.
Too Much Stuff
You may be considering adopting the regular use of To-Do lists because you have a lot going on and feel like it needs to be organized. That is great initiative. Go you! So you buy a notebook or download an app and fill in every single task that needs to be done. You even sit back and think through every aspect of your day, add in chores you nearly forgot, and double check that everything is there.
Yikes! That’s a long list!
This practice makes it easy to feel like you’ll never get it all done. There’s simply too much for one person to ever do. You might start tackling one item at a time, but eventually you’ll either fail or give up before you get a chance to fail.
When I got started with keeping a To-Do list, a long list like that was a quick way to guarantee that I’d grab a drink and play games on my phone for two hours. Because if failure is inevitable then why even start?
Though I later found a way to incorporate the long list of everything, I had to eliminate it in the early stages. Getting away from feeling defeated before you even start can be solved by one quick fix.
Don’t write it all down!
Start off by creating lists designed for one day at a time. Only write down the tasks you absolutely must accomplish. If there is time left over in the day to do more, great! Add it on when you have time. But start with a short, reasonable list.
No Prioritization of Tasks
When everything is listed together in one line, there is no discerning between what is important and what is trivial. They all receive the same weight when there is no differentiation from one task to another.
Do you ever give laundering socks the same amount of attention as working on an essay for a class? Is putting the clean dishes away equally as important as remembering to go to a doctor’s appointment?
When we give everything equal value visually, we struggle to complete the tasks that should be given a higher priority. You need to be the one who decides what priority a task has. Maybe you base this on your goals and values. Or maybe some tasks on your list are time sensitive. Then it’s up to you to act on completing tasks that rank higher for you.
I was able to accomplish this by putting my tasks with highest priority on a separate list. I call it my Dailies. These tasks are the ones that will eventually lead to bigger things. For example, my Dailies includes journaling, homework, and essential chores. I designed it so that it doesn’t take up my entire day, leaving me an opportunity to work in other tasks that need to be done, too.
You may want to try my method. Or you may want to try color coding your tasks. Or maybe you’ll have better luck by blocking off tasks on a calendar, giving stronger visual cues to tasks.
Whatever it takes, make sure your priorities come first. No matter how satisfying it is to cross a trivial task off your list.
Leftovers Leave You Feeling Guilty
Seeing a bunch of tasks still listed at the end of the day is painful. It’s easy to beat yourself up when not everything gets done. You might feel inadequate. You might feel like a failure.
Much like listing too many tasks, this is a common place to want to quit. I know I quit a few times because the leftovers drove me insane. It happened to me often enough that I tried to figure out why it kept repeating.
Sometimes it was because I overscheduled myself. You need to remember when creating your To-Do list that the tasks take time. Be honest about how much time they will take. Give yourself some flexibility between tasks.
Other times I had items left on my To-Do list because I was being inflexible. Surprises happen. Emergencies happen. Life can take you away from your day. When this happens, you need to learn how to let go. You don’t have control over everything, and you never will. To-Do lists can make you feel like you’re in control, but that will not always be the case.
If you’ve experienced any downsides with your To-Do list, leave a comment! I’d love to get a discussion going about problems with this habit and how we can solve them.