The Power of To-Do Lists

I recently watched a video shared by Tony Robbins.  The video focused on how to get people to take action and put forth great effort in their endeavors.  The video had many great points, especially detailing what causes momentum in either success or depression, but I want to focus on what he brings up about the cause of happiness: progression.

Think about any time you were happy.  You may have received something new.  Or, in the most happy cases, you finished a difficult task such as a term paper or a business project.  In either case, you took positive steps in your life.  This leads me to the power of to-do lists.

To-do lists help make all the steps you want to take concrete.  By making the steps more concrete, they instantly become a higher value to you, or achievements to earn.  People love to earn achievements.  For example, the most addicting videogames (i.e. WoW) have achievements listed because people want the feeling of achievement.  A second benefit of to-do lists is there is a built in celebration of accomplishing these achievements: the cross out!  I think everyone needs to experience this to truly understand the satisfaction of crossing out something on a to-do list.  Lastly, to-do lists allow you the opportunity to place a reward as one of your tasks!  The oasis in the desert is a perfect analogy for the power of placing a reward on your to-do list.  You see the oasis off in the distance.  Each painful step gets you closer and closer to that oasis, but knowing you will get there eventually helps keep you motivated.  Then, once you get there there is immense satisfaction!  Now, to-do lists allow you to set-up your own oasis journey.  This turns a to-do list into the following: achievement, achievement, achievement, LARGELY SATISFYING ACHIEVEMENT!  In the end, to-do lists make difficult tasks become more like a game, with bonus fun achievements thrown in the mix.

Here's an example to-do list which is similar to one I've used in the past:
1. Grade 6th grade
2. Eat lunch
3. Grade 8th Grade
4. Work out
5. Grocery shop
6. Lesson Plan
7. Play WoW

Note how I broke up the worst part of my day (the grading and lesson planning), included mini rewards (eating lunch and working out), and ended with a big reward (playing WoW).  Then seeing them all crossed off made for a very satisfying celebration!

I'm also trying out using to-do lists to help me manage my classes.  The list allows students to know exactly what is planned, models a way to organize a day, and by making the crossing off a class celebration, I'm hoping to spread both joy and the use of to-do lists to my students.