Keeping Track of A ‘Done List’
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Sometimes I go through patches where I feel as though I can barely catch my breath. I’ll be wrapping up one book, trying to promote another, answering emails, and still trying to keep up with everything at home.
I’m a huge fan of lists and I make at least two lists a day, prioritizing what I need to work on next. I think I’m a good list-maker: I do take large tasks and break them down into smaller, more manageable bits. I make sure that I don’t put too much on my list for one day.
But somehow, it can seem so overwhelming that I can complete a full day’s work and still feel as though I haven’t really made any inroads.
That’s when I review all the items that I’ve checked off my to-do list. Since I use a digital list (on Notepad, which comes built-into Windows), instead of deleting tasks off my list, I put an asterisk by them to indicate that I’ve completed them. Then I can easily see how much I was able to knock out.
I’d first read about keeping a ‘done list’ four years ago in a post by Janet Choi for 99U: “The Art of the Done List: Harnessing the Power of Progress.” At the time, I’d been deleting completed tasks off the list. I was only looking at work that faced me, not work that I’d finished.
In the article, Choi recommends going even farther and maintaining a completely separate list full of ‘wins’, no matter how small, that took place during the day.
Choi states:
“What did you get done today? Simply look back at your day through the lens of accomplishment. Answering this question becomes a quiet act of affirmation and celebration.
What did I make progress on today? Even on frustrating, seemingly unproductive days, you can almost always find one thing that you moved forward.
Your done list acts as a signpost, a manifestation of all that day’s hard work.”
You can even take it a bit farther, again, and be more analytical about it, suggests Choi, asking yourself what factors played into your progress and considering how any setbacks can translate into progress the next day.
I don’t go that in-depth, I’ll admit. It’s enough for me to look at what I’ve accomplished and feel less overwhelmed. More about my list making in this post from December.
Do you ever get overwhelmed with upcoming tasks? How do you handle it?
Keeping Track of Accomplishments with a 'Done List':
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