Wake up: check.
Eat breakfast: check.
Finish my English reading: check.
As an unfortunate combination of serial procrastinator and extreme perfectionist, I constantly struggle with churning out high-quality content in short periods of time. So, after choosing to take on work-study, upper-level classes and leadership positions in three different clubs this semester, I knew I had to rework old habits.
My first step toward maximizing my productivity was acquainting myself with to-do lists. Visualizing and organizing my daily tasks had to help me complete them more efficiently.
Research proves this. Writing down specific goals increases people’s ability to achieve them, according to a study from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Keeping track of tasks eliminates the anxiety-inducing mind clutter of an incomplete chore.
So, I prepared a small notebook with dates at the top of each page and bullet points for all of my necessary tasks over the next week.
It wasn’t long before my notebook paid off. In the first couple of days, crossing out homework, mealtimes and meetings felt temporarily liberating — I couldn’t wait to have the whole page filled with checkmarks.
Go to office hours: check.
Eat dinner: check.
Finish my economics homework: check.
The anxiety I used to wake up with over missing assignments or forgetting about meetings began to subside. After all, finishing my to-do list for the day meant I could finally exhale and move on to doing things I actually enjoyed.
Although falling into the routine was easy, my old anxieties began to be replaced with something more sinister. The more I checked off chores, the more I started wondering what I was really working toward.
When would these lists stop? Was my only reward for a full day’s worth of work two hours of free computer time? Was the rest of my life doomed to be so dull and automatic?
I completely broke down.
Achieving a middle ground between being a procrastinator and being a machine is by no means an easy thing to do. Part of finding that balance means making sure the tasks in your little notebook are fulfilling in their own right.
Which is to say, the best part of completing something should never just be that you are one step closer to completing something else. Finding meaning in how you spend your entire day is key — and a big contributor to overall happiness.
The Journal of Career Assessment found that one of the most important parts of work satisfaction is knowing that what we do contributes to something bigger than ourselves. We want to help make the world better.
And for all the advice I hear about the effectiveness of keeping lists to stay organized, the United States workforce doesn’t have high engagement. Less than 35 percent of Americans feel actively engaged in their work, according to a 2018 Gallup poll.
We need to stop thinking solely about how much we get done. Instead, we must focus on what our work will mean down the line. When I thought about what was in my notebook, I realized many of my responsibilities didn’t give me any sense of purpose.
To-do lists can be effective, yes, but if everything you write down is a means to an end, it’s worth rethinking what is actually important to you. Making sure you’re filling your list with not just things you need to do, but also things you enjoy doing is critical for being both productive and happy.
Write my column for The Daily Free Press: check.
