Why You Shouldn’t Use a To Do List

A to do list is most people’s go to tool when planning their work, whether it’s a side hustle week or any week. It was mine too, for a long time, but I moved to time blocking instead and here’s why you should too.

Whilst you may love your to do list, let me tell you all of the reasons that it is not your friend when it comes to finding time for a side hustle.

Let’s start with a little bit of science…

Your Brain

As a human you have two parts to your brain, the primitive brain and your higher brain. Our primitive brains were helpful when we were cavemen and women. They help keep us safe. They encourage us to avoid pain and seek pleasure. Don’t go out of the cave at night where there might be lions or if you do have to make sure you scan the horizon for any big cats that might be waiting to take a bite out of you. The problem is that in modern life there are no big cats walking up and down the high street waiting to snack on humans. There are just tasks that don’t feel pleasureable to do. Tasks that might cause us pain - worry about looking stupid or getting stuff wrong. Worry about being a failure. Unfortunately our primitive brains can’t tell the difference.

So what’s all this got to do with not using a to do list.

Problem One

Well, when presented with all of the tasks on your to do list you’re going to want to do the easiest ones first. Your higher brain put some important tasks on your list when you were writing it out, ones that you know are going to move you forward in your side hustle, but when it comes to making a choice about which one to do first it’s going to be the one that causes you the least discomfort. The one that you can do quickly and tick off, giving your brain that pleasureable dopamine hit.

So that’s the first problem, you will always do the easiest tasks first.

Problem Two

Here’s the next one. When faced with a long to do list you’re likely to feel overwhelmed. You’ll worry about how you’re going to get it all done. Because, here’s the truth my friend, a to do list is not a plan. It doesn’t tell you how you are going to get all that stuff done, it just tells you that you have to do all that stuff (the clue’s in the name a to do list).

Problem Three

Whether it’s a long or a short list that you’ve got in front of you, you’ll have no idea how long any of that’s going to take you. Each item on your list looks exactly the same - just one line. Whether it’s buying more boxes for your orders or designing a new website. So even though your brain may feel overwhelmed looking at all of those tasks, in fact they might in total take you two hours or they might be weeks of work. You just can’t tell from looking at your list.

Problem Four

When you wrote out your to do list how did you decide on the order of tasks? Randomly right? Whatever came into your head got written down. It may well be that your to do list is days or weeks old with lots of completed tasks crossed off, other ones added and some which have been on there for ages. In fact, by the time you’ve filled the page and have to start a new list they’re probably still not going to be done. Because your list doesn’t tell you when you need to do something or how urgent it is. A job that needs doing today might be written under one that is just a someday/maybe task, an ‘if you get around to it’ kind of thing.

Problem Five

And finally, a to do list is never done. It’s never finished. There is always something else to be ticked off. So when it comes to finishing up work on your side hustle how do you know when you’re done for the day? You don’t.

Starting to think differently about your to do list yet? I hope so.

I expect the question on the tip of your tongue is, ‘So if I can’t use a to do list Sam how am I going to plan and manage my time?’. The answer is time blocking. If you want to know more about this strategy then take a look at this introductory blog post. And what’s great about time blocking is that it allows you to use your higher brain when it comes to working on your side hustle. You’re going to make better decisions and get the important stuff done to move you forward in your side hustle.

Ready to give time blocking a try and rip up your to do list? I take you step-by-step through the process of time blocking in my course, ‘How to Find Time for a Side Hustle When You Really Don’t Think That You Can’. It’s just £49 and as well as time blocking you’ll learn all about boundaries, routines and beating procrastination in your side hustle.