EDITORIAL FEATURE
Bullet points are
killing your
productivity
To do lists actually decrease EA productivity, says Dr. Isaiah
Hankel, an expert on mental focus, behavioural psychology
and career development – here’s what to do instead
Many EAs will probably say they live and die by
their list – or collection of lists. Not only do they
serve as a brain dump to give you a visual of all
the balls you’re juggling; they serve as validation
and proof of work, justifying your workload and
making you feel more in control. However, do you
sometimes find the lists multiply and carry over,
particularly if you work for more than one person;
all with the looming threat that you might miss
something or make a critical error?
Well, the truth is that the to-do lists that make
you feel more organised and productive are
actually killing your productivity.
But I like my to-do list….
Of course, the idea of a to-do list isn’t completely
unsound. In making the list, you have to write
your tasks down, which is an important part
of goal attainment. Writing down your goals
dramatically increases your chances of achieving
them and, once you’ve crossed something off
your list, you just feel positive – your brain
actually releases some feel-good chemicals as a
reward.
But the problem with this system is that
to-do lists are task-oriented, not detailed plans
for goal achievement… and many people add
volumes of minutia that are insignificant in overall
productivity, just for the sake of crossing it off.
There’s a lack of differentiation from one task
to the next and unfinished tasks (or “open loops”)
compete for focus in your brain. With a multi-
level, multi-varied list, the tension created in the
brain by unfinished tasks never gets satiated and
compromises long term productivity and your
efficiency.
Researchers refer to this as the Zeigarnik effect,
where unfinished tasks and ope n loops suck
more of your cognition and stick in your memory
more than completed ones. So, no matter how
many items you cross off your list, your brain will
always circle back to its open loops – and these
can create intrusive thoughts and fragmented
focus that stunts your overall productivity. As a
result, researchers finds that to-do lists, especially
those related to delegation and task execution,
decrease task effectiveness, while increasing
errors and diminishing the overall quality of work
in the process.
How to organise your day to
maximise productivity
You need more than to-do lists to be productive
– you need to move beyond tactical task
management and start thinking strategically. This
means, instead of organising a list and increasing
the impact of the next 20 minutes, you have to
organise your professional life and increase the
impact of each day.
Eat the frog each morning
Start by putting important things first. Mark Twain
said: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and j
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April/May 2018 | Chief of Staff 17