A to-do list hastily written on a Post-It might be one of the most ubiquitous tools for self-discipline and avoiding procrastination. It works on our psychology by manipulating dopamine, and this is one of the few instances that we can actually make our brains work for us. But ultimately, a to-do list just makes sure that things are not being forgotten or falling through the cracks, and it doesn’t necessarily assist you in doing more. It just prevents you from doing less. Thus, we need to level up the humble to-do list.
We can start to do this by trimming the to-do list down to three items per day (yes, only three) to keep focused and lean. We can also set an intention or overall mission for the day and add only five (two big and three small) or nine (one big, three medium, and five small) tasks to the list in support of that mission. We can also add an element of reality-testing by evaluating your tasks through the metrics of seriousness, urgency, and growth in order to easily see what to prioritize.
Practical Self-Discipline: Become a Relentless Goal-Achieving and Temptation-Busting Machine (A Guide for Procrastinators, Slackers, and Couch Potatoes) By Peter Hollins
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Peter Hollins is a bestselling author, human psychology researcher, and a dedicated student of the human condition.
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Hammadi,Zeigarnik,A Return To The Humble “To-Do” List,Russell Newton,NewtonMG
Transcripts
Having considered so many of the reasons that we procrastinate and the different approaches we can take to undoing this habit and getting back on track with the tasks that will lead us to our dreams, it’s time to take another look at that old organizational classic: the to-do list. It hardly needs an introduction. By making a list, you keep track of what needs to be done, you reward yourself when you do it, and you have a log of what has already been done, often using nothing more than a pen and paper. You make sure that nothing slips through the cracks, and you can carry on item by item in an orderly fashion. Even if you’re just writing tasks down on a Post-It to remember for later, you’re using a form of to-do list and reaping the benefits. As it turns out, there are many variations to this simple theme.
Of the methods we’ve discussed so far, this one arguably actually has the most to do with psychology. Essentially, it’s a technique that works with your brain’s inbuilt reward system via the neurotransmitter dopamine. The principle is simple: when we get something we want—a promotion, an ice cream cone, a kiss from a loved one—our brain releases dopamine. It’s called the “feel good” hormone because it does just that: makes you feel good, want more, and seek it out continually.
If you can work with, instead of against, this very basic mechanism, you can make it so that you enjoy and want to do those tasks that might ordinarily make you procrastinate. Make a list. When you cross that item off, you get a little rush of dopamine and feel a flutter of achievement and progress. You associate the task with pleasure. Result? You’re more likely to do that task, or one like it, again. By tethering a task to this good feeling, you’re associating your work with pleasure, making it more likely you’ll do it. It’s really that simple, but this type of addictive tendency applies to all things in our lives, good and bad.
If you’ve battled “screen addiction” or distractions in your work, you probably already know that it’s because all those activities have become recognized by your brain as sources of dopamine release. If you can make doing your to-do list as enticing and pleasurable as the notification alert sound on your phone, perhaps you’d get addicted to doing your chores instead!
Of course, there’s no special magic in the list itself—it’s what the list represents. The release of dopamine accompanies feelings of accomplishment, pride, release, and progress. It’s so satisfying that we want to repeat the experience. Will it work for tasks you truly dislike, though? Actually, you might find that these work even better for those tasks—after all, the sense of accomplishment is greater. You just have to make sure that you can tick boxes frequently enough to keep the dopamine flowing.
Some people even find that knocking off mundane chores from a to-do list becomes empowering, stress-relieving, and deeply satisfying. After a stressful day at work, for example, where nothing went right, it might actually be therapeutic to come home and obliterate your cleaning list, giving yourself those much-craved feelings of efficacy, completion, and achievement.
How can you use the dopamine-power of to-do lists to their best? This even works with the most mundane of to-do lists, though we will delve into specific types soon.
First of all, squeeze as much from them as possible by making the tasks small for the highest number of dopamine “hits.” Again, we see why it’s so important to break a task down into manageable chunks. As you cross something off the list, really take the time to savor that sense of satisfaction. Clearly and deliberately obliterate it from the list; bask in the sense of accomplishment and reward. There’s a reason some people don’t just tick an unpleasant item from their list but scratch it out ferociously with a pen like they’re killing it! Oh, it feels so good.
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Though it seems obvious, what Zeigarnik noted was that the brain will always prioritize and focus on what it perceives as an outstanding task. She found in her research that, if people were interrupted mid-task, they remembered the details of the task far better than if they were asked to remember details about it after they’d already completed it. In other words, uncompleted tasks are better remembered.
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Knowing this, it might make sense to make sure you’re getting your dopamine hit at the right time so that you’re incentivizing yourself to complete a task rather than disengaging because the “reward” has already been experienced. Practically speaking, don’t be tempted to tick items off the list prematurely. Some people believe that announcing grand plans before you’ve taken action toward realizing them has the same effect—in announcing your goal, you get a brief flash of dopamine akin to actually having completed the task and are therefore less inclined to actually do it.
