I’ve struggled with concentration at different points in my life, and I’ve tried a number of ways to keep myself organized. Long to do lists seem like a good idea until I have 20 things staring back at me and spend more time thinking about the list than actually doing anything on it.
So lately I’ve been trying something much simpler. I write down three things.
They don’t have to be the three most important things in my life. Usually they’re just the three things already taking up space in my head. I get those done, cross them off, and then make another list of three.
That last part is important because the goal isn’t to accomplish only three things that day. I might go through four or five lists. I just don’t need to have all 15 things sitting in front of me at the same time.
There’s some logic behind this. Concentration gets harder when we’re also trying to prioritize, remember and organize a bunch of other things. Breaking work into smaller pieces reduces some of that mental load. I have no idea if three is the scientifically perfect number, and I doubt it is. It just happens to be working for me right now.
I also like actually finishing a list. Getting seven things done should feel like a productive day, but somehow staring at the thirteen things I didn’t do can ruin that. With this approach, I get to finish the list and then decide what I want to tackle next.
I’m going to keep trying it and see what happens.