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Here are a few hidden reasons why your to-do list–no matter how you write it–might be holding you back.
1. IT DAMPENS YOUR MOOD THE FIRST THING IN THE MORNING
Confronting your to-do list as soon as you sit down at your desk is frequently depressing.
2. YOU CAN’T MAKE YOURSELF DO THINGS
The sheer fact that so many of your to-do lists get left unfinished should give you pause. It turns out that humans are pretty bad at making ourselves do things we don’t like to do.
3. IT’S KILLING YOUR CREATIVITY
To-do list reminders rarely inspire creative thinking. The relentless pressure of the tasks on your to-do list close off those serendipitous possibilities that can make you more productive and successful in the grand scheme.
At one point in my career I was mulling over the idea of starting my own company. About that time my boss dropped by my cubicle and asked me to take a visiting actor, Marshall Bell (Starship Troopers, Stand by Me, Shawshank Redemption), out to lunch. We went to a local seafood place, and by the end of the meal I’d sketched on the back of a napkin the plan for my new business: Marshall and I would provide coaching to top-tier executives. I’d teach them how to create their speeches, and he’d train them in delivery. Imagine if I’d passed up that lunch to complete the pressing items on my to-do list! We wouldn’t have launched our startup together, which–many years on–now employs 60 people and reaches clients around the world. It’s harder to think creatively enough to even notice opportunities like these when you’re focused too narrowly on racking up tiny, short-term wins . . .
4. IT WEIGHS DOWN YOUR LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL
. . . which brings me to the final reason to tear up your to-do list: Leaders don’t lead with lists. They lead by being available to others.
If you’re banging away at your to-do list, you’re likely to say “not now” when a coworker pokes her head in your office and asks, “Do you have a minute?” You’re less likely to stop a colleague in the hall and say, “That was a great idea you shared earlier.” You’ll be on the run–more anxious to knock out today’s tasks than to focus on people, share your thoughts, and hear theirs. You won’t get closer to your team, your boss, or your clients by completing your to-do list.
So throw it out–so you can break away to create, inspire, listen, and lead.
There’s only one thing, one constant thing that I believe keeps me moving closer to my goals, and keeps me fixed on what I want to do. It’s got nothing to do with being close to the universe or attracting things to me with positive energy.
My secret weapon is that I read.
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There’s only one thing, one constant thing that I believe keeps me moving closer to my goals, and keeps me fixed on what I want to do. My secret weapon is that I read.
I read constantly, throughout every single day. I read obsessively, consuming new books and revisiting old at an alarming rate. I read because I want to see the world through new sets of eyes. My bookshelves strain under the weight of comics, graphic novels, the complete works of Shakespeare, the Harry Potter series, books about Steve Jobs and Wall Street and Walmart and business and histories of the Holocaust.
I read books about business, and startups, and entrepreneurship — because there’s always something new to learn, something that could shift my point of view or expose me to a different way of thinking. And because when I want to quit, the paths and advice of those who’ve gone before me act as a guide.
But there’s more. I read books about dragons and wizards and ancient spells, and I read books where there are worlds full of fantastic creatures and heroes, and I read books where there are sacrifices and victories and where good people mourn their lovers.
I read new books, to find new characters and ideas, and old books because there’s always a detail I missed or a theme that I’ve forgotten, no matter how many times I’ve gone over them. I read, because there’s so much more to the world than my corner of it. If I never tried to find it, I’d be limiting myself.
Through my bookshelf, my Kindle and my browser, I can access the entire store of human knowledge, insight and imagination at any hour of the day, and I think sometimes I’d be mad not to take advantage of that.
So here’s my advice. If you want to accomplish anything of value, challenge yourself to read. And I don’t mean just read my blog posts — if you have the choice between reading something by me and reading a good book like Life After God, by Douglas Coupland, go for the book. If you don’t read, you won’t gain the information and the insight and the inspiration that you need to make the right calls, at the right time. Make reading a good book a part of what you do.
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Natural catastrophes aren't the only contributors to chaos in the next decade, says Bob Johansen, distinguished fellow at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California. Johansen has been an applied futurist for more than four decades. In his new book, The New Leadership Literacies: Thriving in a Future of Extreme Disruption and Distributed Everything, he says that the speed, frequency, scope, and scale of disruption from global climate change, cyberterrorism, pandemics, and more are likely to increase in the next decade—with few clear patterns to the upheavals. Most people, business executives included, are not prepared for the extreme dilemmas they will face in the years ahead, Johansen argues.
This emerging world will demand new kinds of leaders: those who are very clear about where they are going but very flexible about how to get there. They will need to navigate through disruption while providing the direction necessary to make it tolerable, even motivating, for the people under them. To be convincing, leaders will need to face their own fears and learn from them.
Either flexibility nor resilience will come naturally. Johansen offers advice for how to rehearse for the future and develop the skills to navigate the high-risk realities ahead.
Q. You argue that the future will be so dangerous and difficult to understand that most of today’s leaders will be ill prepared to succeed.
Bob Johansen: We are going to be operating in a future that will be a lot more complicated, a lot less certain, and a lot more dangerous. Enduring leadership qualities like strength, humility, and trust will still be important, but the future will require new literacies in order to thrive.
The word I find myself using a lot is scramble. For at least the next decade, the world will be in a scramble; many things that have been stuck will become unstuck, and there will be an unusually high number of unintended consequences. It will be an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world—VUCA.
Johansen: Healthcare providers and first responders conduct a lot of training using simulation, but I have not seen a single company take this approach enterprise-wide. The simulations that are popular are more often designed to help people navigate present-day challenges than to prepare for future possibilities.
Q. How can companies encourage leaders to have experiences like those of gamers?
Johansen: Video games are intense. There are other ways to challenge yourself with immersive experiences. Living in a foreign country where you’re unfamiliar with the language, the people, and the cultural norms is a form of immersive learning—one that I’d encourage all leaders to undertake.
When you get that awkward feeling in the pit of your stomach, that’s a key indicator that you’re in a learning space. Unfortunately, most senior leaders avoid such learning experiences; they don’t want to be uncomfortable or embarrassed.
But if you push past the discomfort, there’s another phenomenon that happens when you’re in a deep learning state. Activities that are risky and hard to accomplish can ultimately stimulate a sense of discovery that has a natural flow to it. There’s an energy you get from overcoming the obstacles. Overcoming obstacles is meaningful, and everyone needs a sense of meaning if they’re going to thrive in the midst of the scramble.
Q. You say that in a world of constant disruption, leaders will need grit. Can you learn this?
Johansen: Absolutely. In her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, former McKinsey consultant and inner-city schoolteacher Angela Duckworth described it as “the tendency to sustain interest in an effort towards very long-term goals.” The people who will succeed in a shape-shifting future will be full of grit, hope, and optimism, and it will be up to leaders to keep people that way, seeing adversity and change as opportunities more than challenges.
Some characteristics of grit are endurance, optimism, creativity, and courage. These qualities can be developed well through immersive learning. When you’re immersing yourself in these experiences, you do it not just to increase your adaptability; you’re building grit. Resilience will be necessary but not sufficient for the leadership demands of the future; grit will be required.
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