Why Don’t I Do Things On My To-Do List?

April 7, 2008

Elephant Burgers

Back in February I posted an Elephant Burgers article titled This Sounds Nuts! But I Think You’ll Like It. I gave a brief overview of a system for defining a long-term vision, setting annual goals, then breaking them into monthly pieces and eventually into daily steps. Boy, was I hot stuff!

Then a couple of coaching colleagues started asking questions about ways to organize their days to stay on task. I shared my system. They told me why it won’t work for them. There was a huge hole in my sytem!

What was missing? The part where you’re willing to do what you schedule.

One colleague explained that it doesn’t matter that the person actually assigning her tasks is herself. Anyone in the CEO role triggers her rebellious streak. It seemed like that would be a rare sort of problem, one solved either through some self-discovery and personal growth, counseling, or personal coaching. Yes, my pride was spiking, and we know what comes next.

Right now it’s the third day this week that I have scheduled my day with tasks that need to be accomplished, spaced them out and allotted enough time, and failed to do most of them. One day the only things I actually accomplished from my list were “Daily planning meeting” and “Daily review.”

I was still doing things, and they were important, but I completely blew off the list. I was annoyed with the list the first two days. Kind of like my colleague who said any CEO will trigger her rebellious streak, even if it’s herself. But by today I started catching on.

Flexibility With Priorities

Some of the things I felt I needed to do instead of the list really were more important once things started developing. I had to be flexible to allow myself to focus my time on the things that turned out to have a higher priority than when the day started. In part, my priorities shifted as I realized I need to change a couple of things to make planning and outlining an idea go smoothly. That’s where I realized I couldn’t do C because I’d been thinking about changing the way I did A. Until I decided A, I couldn’t figure how that would affect B, and of course C depended on B.

But at the end of the day as I looked back, I realized that A was my priority all along. Once again, I had a “plan” to be getting to C and dismissed the importance of the changes I was thinking about for A. If I had paid more attention to priorities A would have been at the top of the list from the beginning.

Listen To Your Calling

Prioritize the things you are drawn to do, that bring you alive, and less to the things you think you “should” do. I keep re-learning this lesson so often I expect I’ll know it pretty soon. My long-term plans for my business include things that logically are connected to coaching, personal growth, and creative career choice. But they’re not things I’m drawn to do right now. So some of the things on my list for this week were steps towards less inspiring goals. Instead of me seeing how the actions would bring me closer to my desired future, they stirred up questions about whether I will actually include those components in my business. Guess what? I didn’t do those steps!

Go In Order, Or “First Things First”

This is another one I keep trying to learn. For example, I can’t design and write a report or an e-book or a script for a recorded training to offer as a gift for signing up for my newsletter until I get clear about the focus of my newsletter. I’ve had steps about building my list on my schedule for three weeks. It was easy to do the ones about brainstorming and coming up with possible ideas.

But when it was time to start implementing a step I had planned I realized I’m still clarifying the focus of the newsletter. Since the offer (the report, book, or recording) I create needs to be connected to the purpose of the newsletter, I couldn’t really start creating it until I decided. All the time I had scheduled to start creating a product for my offer got redirected to considering ideas about the focus of the newsletter.

Some Tasks Are Rotten

Now we’re talking! This is in line with what my colleague said about rebelling against directions. When I schedule tasks that relate to the fun part of my work, I usually wind up doing them early and get through them more easily. When the task is more mundane, I dread it, avoid it, get started late, or justify putting it off a day or two.

It seems to me the trick here is knowing the “rotten” factor of certain tasks and not planning too much “rottenness” into any given day. It’s also reasonable to see how many of the “rotten” tasks you can hand off to someone else or ask someone to help you do.

Accountability

But if the rotten tasks are yours, and no one else can or will do them for you, and you schedule them sparingly so you won’t get bogged down but you still won’t do them, you’re stuck. That’s when an accountability buddy or group is a great idea. Pick your odious task each week and commit to getting it done. If you still avoid it, be open to ideas from the accountability partners to give you new approaches to get it done.

Consider individual or group coaching if you’re staying stuck and not getting important things accomplished. This will give you the opportunity to look at your own resistance and decide if it’s fear, uncertainty, a wise inner voice keeping you from doing something you’re not ready to do, or just your spoiled inner child. Once you are clear on the reasons for your goals and how they will improve your life, you will find motivation to overcome hesitancy, fear, boredom, and uncertainty with the help of accountability.

Unless you don’t. If you try creative planning, accountability buddies, and coaching, but you still can’t get yourself to do much, there might be a different problem. It might be time to consider counseling to understand the part of you that keeps you stuck when you’re longing to change.

Posted in Elephant Burgers, Zine 8: April 2008