I want to preface this post with the fact that I have no idea how an ‘open response’ or ‘open letter’ even works, other than being publicly available. I’ve seen them before, but they have a tendency to lean towards the negative, if not threatening, tone of voice. That’s not what this is. I will, however, admit that it was written hastily after reading Daniel Markovitz’s article (only because of a lack of time on my flight). Perhaps it’s better titled “An Alternative Solution to Ditching To-Do Lists (written in haste)”, but as some of my marketing friends would probably tell me, there’s nothing “bait-y” about that title. Daniel Markovitz I have the utmost respect for your post; this, however, is my opinion on where To-Do lists went wrong.
Edit: Oh, and I almost forgot, here's the original (told you it was my first time) -- "To-Do Lists Don't Work" by Daniel Markovitz
From what I can remember, I’ve used To-Do lists for as long as I could write. In the early days of elementary school, I vaguely recall our teachers enforcing some type of list, the contents of which were our tasks for the evening. These were simpler times. I imagine my To-Do list at that time going something like this:
- Have parents sign pop-quiz grade
- Have parents sign permission slip
- Complete cursive worksheet
What an easy life. The majority of my tasks weren’t even my responsibility, but instead, it was my job to tell someone else to do something. Who knew, I was managing people at the ripe young age of 5, or so I was led to believe.
Over time I’d come to realize To-Do lists weren’t only for tasks I had to do when I got home from school, but as I got older, I recognized they started to have items like bills, groceries, email responses and any other number of random tasks I had to complete. What I want to walk through, and figure out, is where I went wrong — when did the simple To-Do lists of my childhood become the nightmare that exists today.
- In elementary school, my To-Do list was a simple piece of paper, perhaps with a series of numbers (or small boxes to check off if I was getting fancy).
- By the time I reached college, my To-Do list had transformed from the typical sheet of lined paper into a whiteboard (likely accompanied by R-rated drawings from drinking that occurred the night prior).
- At GE, my first internship, my To-Do list took a step back in time, except rather than being on a piece of paper, it was an index card in a small Tumi case made for just that (I still own this, and carry it most of the time).
For a number of years the index card system stuck as my primary means of writing down tasks, I’d guess somewhere from 2003 until 2010. But what changed? Why did I abandon it?
2010 — The year I graduated from my Blackberry to an app-rich smartphone, the HTC Incredible.
Smartphones. The devil in disguise. Not quite, that’s a little harsh, but seriously, they made things too simple. Jumping to a quick conclusion here, I really think the demise of the To-Do runs deeper than what Markovitz proposes. I agree with all of the fundamental problems that he points out, but I think it frames the To-Do list problem too late in the game, after the content is already on the list. I believe the problem stems from the fact that our ability to add items to our To-Do list is too simple.
I do run into all the problems Markovitz points out, it’s a serious issue. I don’t have just one, short, concise To-Do list; instead, I have a series of lists all over the place, because they are so simple to create and add items to.
Index cards? check
Evernote? check
Wunderlist? check
Apple Notes? check
Mail app? check
Seriously, what the hell is wrong with me? Mail apps pitch me that my inbox should be a To-Do list, To-Do apps pitch me that they should be my list, it’s like I’m being pulled in 50 different directions. If we simply focused on one medium for creating a To-Do list, preferably one that does not make writing down tasks easy, I think we’d be fine.
You should note, I also do love hand written work. I always carry a notebook/notecard and pen with me nearly everywhere I go, so I may be a bit jaded on the solution to To-Do lists. But honestly, if it was more difficult to write a task down, wouldn’t you give it more thought before ever putting it on paper? Or if the space in which you could write down items was limited, we’d make sure we used it well. Instead, in an age where our To-Do lists can reach infinite length, we’re causing more headaches than we realize.
There, I said it. My first open response. How’d I do?