Have you ever tried to get organised, and written a To Do list that was so vast and daunting in its scale that you felt like going straight back to bed and staying there for the rest of the year?
Every Sunday night I write a list of the things I need to do for the next week. This week’s was particularly epic. It had loops and arches and tasks both interconnected and disparate – places to be, stuff to take, things to remember – usually at opposite ends of the city at the same time.
Lists aren’t for everybody: in NLP terms, they work if you’re a visual person, because you can see what you’ve written down. They can also work if you’re a kinaesthetic (touchy/feely) person because the physical act of writing stuff down will help ensure that you remember it. But if you’re an aural person, who needs to hear stuff, then a list probably won’t do it for you (unless of course you get someone to read it out to you). So if you’re a listmaker who still can’t get anything done, just remember it’s not you, it’s your communication style.
So now I am experimenting with a ‘To Don’t’ List of things I don’t intend to do. Should go nicely with my Christmas Unlist, of gifts I don’t want to receive (I know that sounds a bit ungrateful, but trust me, there’s a lot of fun to be had from spotting something grim and announcing that it’s going on the Unlist).
And now this week’s To Don’t list looks like this:
Don’t Panic – whatever needs to get done will get done. Most probably by you, or a small person if you give them 50p.
Much more achievable.
To Don’t Lists – it’s the future I tell ya.