(Finally) Getting Shit Done (Sustainably)
Recently I've been more proactive about Getting Shit Done that Needs Doing. These are things like getting my vehicle inspection (miserable), going to a new doctor and then reflecting on the visit/prescriptions after because I have time to (helpful), testing out some new Jellyfin plugins (enjoyable), or giving my cat extra time outside because I worry she's not getting enough stimulation (OCD is not the subject of this blog post but I will address it soon).
I wish I could say I've reached a new, sustainable equilibrium, but in fact it's been entirely possible because I requested off a bit of extra holiday time. If I had still been working until the week of Xmas, I probably wouldn't have even reached where I'm at now, since a week with a national holiday in the middle (see: this week and last) fills up pretty quickly.
Fortunately, the tech (as in technique, as in wave dashing or dash canceling; not as in technology) I've been using is something I can continue going forward, even if at a slower pace. I'm simply using a paper to-do list, and I'm using it in a specific way that it enabling me to be productive with minimal overhead. (A digital to-do list on my phone would be bad because I am always seeking to be on my phone less.) It took me a few iterations to land on the "perfect" method, but I did, and only "wasted" a few pages at the opening of this notebook. Here's what has been making this to-do list format so powerful for me:
First, I use a notebook.
I needed my to-do lists, plural, to be colocated. Although I've used paper to-do lists before, they were always separate sheets, which meant that they either needed to be small enough to do all in one day (which limits their value), or else organized in some way that I can return to them (which has many obvious solutions but few that feel sustainable without effort, and effort is friction is broken habits).
Having one notebook that's just to-do lists means that it's very easy to keep track of tasks that roll over, or else needed to be written down even though I didn't plan to do them soon anyway. They're all just things I need to do, only rarely do any become genuinely urgent.
Second, I plan to roll items over.
I mentioned this above. Not everything will get done on every to-do list, no matter how well calibrated you are. Life's just not that predictable. For me especially, I'm not well calibrated (I think that's very common), and I'm chronically ill (which saps a surprising amount of energy some days).
So I need a format which expects tasks to roll over to the next day/list, rather than allows this (but fails to resolve the stress rollovers can cause). To this end, I close out a list at a certain point, even if it's not done, and roll over unfinished items to the next one.
Third, it is always current.
By rolling items over as much as I need, I ensure that things don't fall through the cracks. I think there may be some mental tension building around some of these longstanding backburner items that keep rolling over, but I haven't reached a point yet where they feel like I'll never do them.
The system I use to close out lists and decide when I need rollovers is quite simple. By using a notebook, a single list consists of only two pages. If I open the notebook, I can see the entire list. If I'm looking for a task to do, I never need to look anywhere other than opening my notebook to the bookmarked spot. This allows my list to be both extremely portable and comprehensive.
Fourth, it is always available.
A small notebook, with everything in a single place, is easily carried around. This is important because there are many things I've been putting off for months because they're so deeply buried in my brain. When these tasks breach my surface thoughts, I need to write them down immediately. Due to ADHD and fatigue, if I do not write them down immediately, I am unlikely to think of them again for days or weeks in some cases.
So even though my list may not currently contain every task I've been mulling over for a long time, I can trust that it is rapidly accumulating them and that it is reliably becoming a more true reflection of the Things That Need Doing in my life (and aren't part of daily routine anyway).
Fifth, it is atomic.
This is nothing new. I've heard of Atomic Habits. But this didn't come to me immediately for my personal to-do list because it's not intuitive when people are first becoming to-do list users. Adding it felt like a bonus -- but actually I think it's entirely necessary now.
Because my list is fairly small, and initially had many things on it, I started by adding tasks that contained multiple steps. This was a mistake, because it is not always possible to complete all those steps as a single tasks. Thus if I ever got interrupted or blocked during a multi-step task, I amended it on the list to only reflect the first step and marked it done, then added further steps as additional tasks (and marking done whichever of those I had actually gotten through). I was afraid this would clutter the list, but it's very unlikely to, and if it does, I close the list out and start a new one.
This maintains progress. It is critically important for an individual with ADHD not to leave any task in-progress whenever possible. Concrete stopping points allow me to 1) feel good about what I've accomplished (giving motivation to continue) and 2) genuinely track progress no matter how small the task (reducing the cost of returning to the project).
Conclusion
Much shit has gotten done in the last 2 weeks off, in large part thanks to the system above. There are times when I engage now in a task I wasn't expecting to, such as writing a blog post. But I can take this "distraction" in stride because I know the rest of the tasks are not lost to me. And if the distraction is something useful to me, which this blog post is, as soon as I finish I will add it to the list and mark it done! It wasn't something I previously planned on, but if I had thought of it ahead of time, I would have wanted it on the list. So I won't treat this as a distraction or failure of any kind, but instead I can treat it as true progress toward my goals. Anything I do or want to do that feels like it's been "hanging over me" for any amount of time deserves a place on this list, so that I don't need to waste resources trying to remember it ever again.