Instead of allowing our minds to perform optimally, many of us fill our brains with daily life's mundane details and rules. Worse, we spend endless hours repeating the tasks and projects we're trying to juggle.
We need a functional system to hold these details until the appropriate time to take action. When we can systematically tick off as many tasks as possible, we are able to clear our mind again. Writing things down on a to-do list is a good first step, but it's not enough.
As we struggle to multitask, we find there are too many things that are out of alignment with our current sense of reality. To cope, we put them on "the list" which can grow to gargantuan proportions. Often, this list is nothing more than names of pressing projects written on numerous pieces of paper, often kept in several discrete places.
Here is what's missing from our lists:
- A clearly identified intended outcome.
- A specific next-action step to be taken.
- Reminders of outcomes and action steps in a reliable system.
Some people keep multiple to-do lists of undone tasks. There are notes in their Day-Timers, computer calendars, PDAs, iPhones and all of the other common organizing tools to which we cling. When we write something down and place it on a list, we assume we have a surefire way to remember it.
But the problem is more complex than keeping multiple lists.
The left brain, that supplies logic and linear thinking, keeps its own list and tends to be untrusting. It will continually issue reminders and incessantly interrupt your most creative moments. In response, you will write down the task yet again, blocking the mind from thinking clearly and creatively.
Many of us have experienced working in the "zone," where creative processes flowed and we lost all sense of time. This happens when we use our right brain hemisphere. Right-brain thinking is essential for innovation. It functions like an artist, concerned only with the present moment. In contrast, the left brain is concerned with time and numbers. It reminds us of tasks left undone, prior experiences we need to consider and future deadlines....functioning more like a banker than innovator.
If you don't manage your mind to manage your actions, you are giving up the possibility of creative thinking and all of the tasks for which you haven't formulated desired outcomes and decisions remain active in what scientists call "open loops." They will haunt you, sapping your energy and creative powers.