If you are well-practiced at using GTD or another time management system, you have no doubt seen how easy it is to add new actions to your task lists. Good thing, too, because new actions keep coming at us in this fast-paced world.
You might also have noticed that it is easy to add work that isn’t worth doing. Something pops into your head and you write it down. It’s good that you write it down, of course: it keeps you from losing the thought. But, if it turns out to be something that’s not worth doing, are you disciplined enough in your weekly reviews to cull it out of your lists?
I’ve found that, for me, it’s easy to get into a sort of “automated weekly review,” where I blitz through my list of Someday and Maybe items and say “Yeah, I might do that someday.” Doing this sort of “brainless” review winds up leaving actions in my lists which really do not belong there. That contributes to making the lists long, which contributes to me doing a brainless/automated review of them instead of a thoughtful one.
So, what are some ways to cull the lists?
- A key one is to ask “Is this item unimportant and non-urgent, and, if so, is there any reason to keep it?”
- Another question to ask: “Is this something I will do whether it is on a list or not?”
As an example for the second bullet, two items I deleted from my lists this weekend were “clean carpet” and “cut grass.” I will do these items when they need to be done, whether they are on my task list or not. For me, it makes no sense to look at those items every week when they are not relevant every week and when I know I’ll do them when the time comes. (It especially makes no sense to look at “cut grass” every week when it is Winter.)
My examples of what I culled may be ones that you would want to keep on your lists to remind you to schedule time for the activities. My life is not so busy that I need to do that, but yours may be.
Regardless, the point is that you may be carrying some items on your task lists that probably do not belong there. If you are like me, you will feel better when you clean them up.