A Meaningful Life

I tried not keeping a list for a couple of weeks. This was a bit weird for me. I’ve always run lists even though I often get distracted from them. Still it is there in the back of my head like a personal assistant ready to remind you of the tasks at hand.

Lists in investment banking were essential. Lists helped mitigate monetary and legal risks by ensuring important things weren’t forgotten. Such as booking all the components of structured transaction. Missing one component could be fatal. You could also use them to waterfall trading priorities based on risk mitigation and/or monetary return.

I was going to do no-lists for a month but stopped today. I felt I had enough to know I want to operate with them. However, there were a couple of interesting things that showed up for me. Here’s what I found out.

1. Prioritisation Weakens

I didn’t prioritise as well without my list. Lists definitely help me with this. You need a cracking memory to keep a mental note on what order things should be done and by when.

2. Memory Lets You Down

You do forget the odd thing you need to do. I remembered most things but I slipped on some and one was quite important. So to keep in integrity with people the list is a good structure that helps.

3. List Free Isn’t Liberated

I wasn’t any happier, liberated or spontaneous than normal without a list. It felt the same in fact, only with a little more anxiety in the form of “Have I missed something?”.

4. I Still Got a Lot Done

Well this one was predictable. List don’t change the quantity of work you can get done. Good prioritisation probably has some efficiency payoffs but it wasn’t noticeable for me. It’s in my nature to work full days anyway. The list can’t do the labour, I have to, so it makes sense.

5. Old Jobs Completed At Last

This was the best outcome of not having a list. I did a few things that had been at the back of my mind that never made the important list. It felt good to clear them, a lot like fixing a very old software bug that doesn’t really impact anyone but annoys the crap out of you.

6. Not Adding Any New Things Shortened My List

This is probably my favourite outcome. I added some things today but not as many as would have been there if I were adding things every day over the last two weeks. So the take away is being more ruthless about what goes on the list. I liken it to only permissioning important email - it can only help.

7. You Adapt To Not Having A List

I found myself relying more on Trac (our internal ticketing system) and also on Email search. Email started to become a surrogate todo list.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2007 at 11:29 pm and is filed under Habits, TimeManagement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.