January is usually a time for planning for the year ahead. Whether at work or at home, there’s a whole year of goals yet to achieve stretched out in front of us, and I find that can be a little bit overwhelming. Whilst I am a fan of planning ahead, with so much to do, and only a finite amount of time and energy to do it with, I find I need an antidote to the madness of January’s resolutions and good intentions. In short, I am looking for a source of fresh inspiration and motivation.
I first came across the concept of a “Done List”, in this article by Oliver Burkeman: What if you’re already on top of things? . I’m a fan of his thinking on productivity, and this sense that often we start the day (or year) with a sense of what he calls productivity debt, which he describes as “this vague sense that I’m falling behind, and need to claw my way back up to some minimum standard of output. It’s as if I need to justify my existence, by staying “on top of things”, in order to stave off some ill-defined catastrophe that might otherwise come crashing down upon my head.”
The other aspect of a “Done List”, a list of things already accomplished, which only grows as the days pass, is that it helps you notice what you achieve before moving on to the next thing. I came across this interesting article which goes more into it: Forget To-Do Lists. You Really Need a ‘Got Done’ List in Wired. So, for me, keeping a Done List has become a great strategy for bringing a little more joy into the start of the year, and also helps foster more reflective and creative thinking, and that in turn often helps me get the more important things done more easily.
How to…
If you’d like to give this a go for yourself, just use whichever tool you usually use for making a to do list, whether that’s a notepad, a digital document or dedicated app.
Some productivity apps automatically disappear a completed task, which is helpful when you have a lot of different priorities to juggle, but it also means that you don’t get to see everything that’s been ticked off the list already. So in order to try this approach, you’ll need to make sure that everything already accomplished remains on the list and legible, instead of getting struck through or hidden away. Instead of having a list that looks something like this: Things I have accomplished!, you are looking to create a list more like this:
Things I have accomplished!
- Started a DONE list
- Made a folder in which I keep positive feedback
- Filed CPD certificates
- Made a list of how I volunteer as a reviewer, mentor or conference committee member
You can start with things you have done today, things completed this week or even keep a running list of things that are DONE throughout the year. In the podcast episode about this tool I share more examples of how I have used the tool, why I find it valuable and how it inspires my leadership practice.
If imposter syndrome or low confidence insert themselves and you worry that you may not have anything worth adding to your list, then try this strategy: instead of thinking about what might qualify as good enough to add to the list, add everything you have done today or this week. This list is just for you, after all, and no one else needs to see what you add.
Once you start listing activities, just keep going and make a list as long as you can, adding everyday things you have done. Even things that don’t feel like an accomplishment take energy and time to do, and thus they can be added to the list.