4 ways your to-do list is sabotaging your productivity

Whether you make to-do lists on paper, in an app or just in your head, they may be sabotaging your productivity. Here are 4 ways to-do lists may be undermining you:

• They overwhelm you: When you’re plodding through your day, you easily manage a variety of tasks. However, when you’ve clearly delineated those tasks you can see how much you have to do! Being overwhelmed can actually cause you get less done than if you hadn’t made a list. In some extreme cases, you might even toss the whole list and get nothing done!

• They don’t allow for good prioritization: Unless you meticulously organize your list, you’re probably not prioritizing what’s most important. Most people prioritize by what’s fastest to cross off because, let’s face it, it feels good to scratch things out. It means we’re closer to being done with work. But if you’re not prioritizing by what’s most important, you could be spending too much time on the unimportant things.

• They affect the quality of your output: If your goal is to cross things off as quickly as possible, you may be rushing your work which could lead to mistakes or subpar performance.

• They add to the feeling of the daily grind: If you’re adding as much or more to your list as you’re crossing off, you might feel as though you’ll never get it all done. What’s more stressful that a long work day? A long work day that never ends.

If using a to-do list is still your preferred method, consider using them in a new way. For example, make lists only of the trivial things you’ll get to when the important work is finished, such as pick up a loaf of bread on the way home or order more supplies. Conversely, make a short list of the projects you hope to complete in a week and refer back to it as a method of staying on track overall without getting bogged down in the details. Then set your list aside until the heavy lifting is complete and watch your productivity soar.