www.fastcompany.com: My to-do list was hiding all sorts of secrets.
It seemed pretty straightforward: Buy groceries for dinner, achieve inbox zero, figure out that work assignment.
But each one of these tasks came paired with an emotion: anxiety, boredom, fear, excitement.
7 comments:
While I am glad that this anti-procrastination method works for the author of this article, I am not too keen to try it myself. To me, this seems like a lot of extra work for not a lot of result. I agree that our daily calendars have a great deal of emotion lying beneath the surface, but I often see my calendar as an obligation as well. Whether or not something makes me upset, if it is on the calendar, I am getting up and going to it. Analyzing my emotions about the things I expect myself to “just do” makes me want to do them a lot less. I have found that keeping up with my calendar in itself has been my personal anti-procrastination method, and so far it is working well. I feel like it gives me tangible structure to add to my day, which is important for me to center myself and my goals every morning.
This article provides a tip for managing procrastination that I cannot imagine to ever have a high success rate among people. Personally, I don’t think this system could ever work for me. I am usually pretty aware of why I do not want to work on something and, once I have committed to procrastination, acknowledging why I don’t want to work will just make me feel more stressed and will definitely not motivate me to do what I need to do. I also kind of reject the idea that, if things are not getting done, then something’s gone wrong. I think there is actually a lot of value in taking a little time to relax and refresh yourself. Of course, this should be in moderation and taking breaks can escalate into not getting anything done ever, but there is no shame in taking a break every once in a while and procrastinating a little.
This is a really smart article. The writer has basically discovered their own version of time management through having a self awareness of their own emotions. By attaching emotional value to the tasks on a list; the writer of this article was able to better understand where or why she was procrastinating certain tasks and not others. Humans would rather do things that are enjoyable or fun over things that we’re afraid to fail at or be bored doing. I think that this technique that the writer has developed can be translated to more than just ‘To Do’ lists. You can apply this to how you approach group projects or doing homework or planning a party. Figuring out the emotional value of each task you’re doing is really important. This version of applied self evaluation is awesome. I’m not sure if I would use this technique, but I think for people who aren’t extremely self-aware, this could be a really helpful analysis tool.
This is an oddly useful article. I wish I had read this a few years ago because that might have saved me the pain I experienced going through high school. Although I have found my own way of doing things and keeping my life in order, I still like to look at these types of articles because they give me something new. This could be a new perspective, a new idea, or just a new tool to keep in my back pocket. Sometimes I find myself incorporating some of these ideas into my life just no the same way they did and other times its just another trick I can pass along to people who have come to me for advice. I think this is a great tool to use because looking back, this would have made my life a little easier. In high school I often found myself stressed about certain projects and assignments and other not as much. My solution back then was essentially procrastinating as I would do a piece of it and reward myself with something then go on to the next, etc. However, eventually it just turns into reward, reward, reward, then shove everything I should have been doing into this last-minute amount of time. It wasn’t totally helpful and basically just became procrastinating the assignment anyways. Should I have figured out Why I was stressed about it, I am sure that I would have had better solutions to completing the tasks.
I think the comments to this article are quite interesting as there is quite a mixed response to the article. Some people think this is a waste of time and some people don't see it being helpful while others wish they learned about this sooner. I feel like I fall somewhere in between. I totally knew before reading this article that I procrastinate things that I don't want to do because I'm worried about failing the task or worried about getting no as the answer to the thing that I need to ask about. I also do look ahead to help me get through things. I do think these are two helpful things to know about oneself however, I don't know if an emotional to-do list is necessarily the best use of my time. I think sorting a to-do list based on things that you are avoiding and things that need to get down and things that can wait is a better use of time and way to fight procrastination. I find it interesting in Sammy's comment that she talks about how much time this takes but as someone who is an avid planner out, I try to plan every week the Sunday that it begins and that usually only takes 15-20 minutes max. This isn't that much time and it makes someone more productive usually by having a game plan. I notice weeks where I don't do this, I spend a lot of time stressing and procrastinating and worrying about finding time to do things rather than doing things, which is a bigger waste of my time. However, not every organizational strategy is for everyone and that is what makes us human.
This article presents an approach to getting tasks done and combating procrastination that I’ve never seen or thought of before. It’s a pretty interesting idea to get to the root of the emotion tied to the tasks at hand, and then trying to tackle it through that knowledge. The opinions of the people commenting on this seem like pretty polar opposites. Either it’s stupid and a waste of time, or it’s insightful and a good tool. I think it really just comes down to how an individual functions and what motivates them to get things done. For me personally, I’m not sure if this approach would be that effective since I’m not a very emotionally driven person in general. Knowing the thoughts or feeling behind certain tasks wouldn’t necessarily make it easier for me to power through them. Just list making and breaking down all of the things I need to do is really all I need to be able to do work… well that and having got enough sleep to be conscious in the first place. However I can understand how this method would be useful to different types of people, like the author of this article, and I’m glad that it can work for them.
This article is well intentioned but only semi helpful. When everything causes you stress you have to figure out why you are stressed about it which in turn can cause you more stress because you feel like you are wasting your time. While it is a great idea, it is also unhelpful in certain situations. In the example list I know I would be stressed about meeting a friend for lunch because I would know that I could be working on some kind of assignment or other thing on the list that I am stressed about. If you are a particular person, finding recipes on one site might be a large challenge because you might not be able to. Laundry could also be a challenge because if your laundry bag is falling apart your new laundry bag may not arrive for awhile from amazon and you would have to find the one you want. Additionally, even though my laundry is right downstairs, it takes time to sort, spot treat, and be interrupted every 45 minutes to change the laundry, let alone fold and hang it all up.
Post a Comment