3.f 使用列表减少失误

Make Time Your Friend 3.f: Using Lists to Reduce Mistakes

> By Li Xiaolai · 2008-05-18 · [Original (web archive)](https://web.archive.org/web/20111113135329/http://www.lixiaolai.com/archives/432.html) (Chinese)
> Our translation from the Chinese original.

The list (List) has always been one of the most effective organizing tools. It's said that lists used for organizing or managing can be divided into many kinds, for example the task list (Task list), the to-do list (To-do List), or the checklist (Check list)…… Although I personally feel there isn't much point in distinguishing these concepts so carefully, I do indeed think lists themselves are very useful. And making lists and using lists is indeed an important ability that takes practice.

First, an example of a list doing me good. A long time ago, I found that after shopping at the supermarket and getting home I was often very annoyed: "How did I forget to buy two things again?!" So I developed the habit of making a list before going to the supermarket.

If I decide to go shopping at the supermarket today, then when I wake up in the morning I take out a sheet of paper, list the things I want to buy, and stick it on that little whiteboard on my wall—instead of going straight to the supermarket. Generally, by 9 a.m. I may suddenly remember one more thing that should be added to the list; by 10 I may still need to add something, and at 11 perhaps another item…… By 2 in the afternoon, I can go to the supermarket. Each time I buy something, I put a check mark at the corresponding place on the list; if I'm sure I can't buy it at the supermarket, I draw a cross at the corresponding place…… This way, when I get home, I can't possibly be annoyed at having forgotten to buy something.

I've already made clear the benefits of making this list (this should count as what they call a checklist, right?). But what you may not have noticed is this: if I hadn't made this list, then when I got home and was endlessly annoyed at my carelessness, I would actually be facing two possibilities: 1) the supermarket does have what I want to buy, but I forgot to buy it; 2) the supermarket actually doesn't have what I want to buy at all, so going back is useless! So you can imagine that when, while endlessly annoyed, I had to go back to the supermarket and then found myself facing the second situation, I'd certainly be half-dead with anger and helpless—but one thing is certain: the time has already been wasted.

So making a list often makes you do things in good order and ensures you won't waste time unnecessarily. However, in the course of using lists over a long time, I've found there really are some experiences worth sharing.

**(1) In most cases there's really no need to make a list.**

Some experts advise using lists everywhere; it's said that once it becomes a habit, it's no longer a pressure. But I know some habits, once formed, inevitably have side effects. For example, recording your money income and spending every day should certainly be a quite good habit; but people who form this habit all involuntarily become very stingy, and often, having agreed to treat a friend to a meal, at the time of paying suggest it'd be better to go Dutch or something. I think a person shouldn't set too many rules for himself, because that obviously can't be done, and the longer the term, the more so. The question of degree can only be judged by yourself according to the actual situation. Anyway, the basic principle is: a person shouldn't be overly demanding of himself—though at the same time he shouldn't overly indulge himself either. Before going to a meeting, it's reasonable to prepare a list recording the various ideas you should raise. But when going on a date, insisting on making a list in advance recording what to do first, what to do next and what to do last is obviously superfluous.

**(2) The best list-recording tools are paper and pen.**

It's best to simply have a notebook with a pen clipped inside and carry it with you. My advice is to try not to use list-management software installed on a desktop or laptop computer—although those programs are all very well designed, they're far less convenient and effective than paper and pen. Data on a desktop can hardly be carried around with you, even though you've had several USB drives—some of which you've already lost; data stored on the internet can't be accessed at any moment either—for example when you're in a taxi. A laptop can be carried around, but it's after all far clumsier than paper and pen; resuming from standby to working state often takes more than 30 seconds; worst of all, if the battery dies midway, files may get corrupted. Now there are more ingenious electronic products: the palmtop computer (PDA), the smartphone (SmartPhone). But I still don't recommend them: 1) the price is still relatively too high; 2) the operating systems and other software are still unreliable; 3) the battery is still a problem; 4) input is still not convenient enough; 5) they're easy to lose (the more expensive a thing, the easier it is to lose?)…… However, I have to admit that palmtop computers have made great progress in the last two years, and I believe that one day they will completely replace paper notebooks.

**(3) A list doesn't need to be neat.**

The reader of a list is often only ourselves, so the list just needs to be understandable to us. Recording in the simplest way is the most reasonable: lots of abbreviations, arrows, lines, check marks, crosses and all kinds of symbols, circles and boxes…… Unless you have no choice, tidying your list, recopying your list, or categorizing your list are almost all a total waste of time. Everyone has a habit of neatness; it's just expressed in different ways. For example, I can tolerate my room being a little messy, and I often put off getting a haircut for quite a while, but I absolutely can't tolerate even the slightest irregularity on my bookshelf, or any icon besides the recycle bin on my Windows desktop. So you may very well be like me and suddenly find yourself obsessed with making all kinds of lists perfectly neat—then you need to be careful, because this is one of the typical symptoms of people with "obsessive-compulsive disorder." So I suggest you, like me, consciously stop yourself from doing things that have no practical meaning—that's wasting time.

**(4) A list must be within easy reach.**

When you make a list you can use a pencil, ballpoint pen, fountain pen, gel pen, or any other pen that can write—of course I don't recommend a writing brush; you can use a page in any notebook, use special yellow sticky notes, or write on the whiteboard [Translator's note: the original writes 白版, a slip for 白板, "whiteboard"] on the wall…… Convenience first. But the list must be within easy reach. If you're at home all day today, it may be better to note the list on the whiteboard on the wall where you can see it as soon as you look up; if you're in the office all day, sticking yellow sticky notes on the partition of your desk is a very good choice; if you're sure that almost all the work you have to do today will be done on the computer, then the Sticky Notes gadget in the Windows Vista sidebar is very convenient; if you're working out and about today, maybe going to several places, then a PDA or a small notebook you carry should be a good choice. Actually, I don't like those fancy so-called high-end notebooks priced at several dozen yuan [Translator's note: the original 几十块元 doubles the currency unit (块 and 元); translated as "several dozen yuan"], even with leather covers—pretty to look at but not useful. The funniest thing was that I saw at a friend's place that he had many of those high-end notebooks, but all new. I was puzzled and asked him why he didn't use them up. He said such exquisite things made him a bit reluctant to write anything in them! I was floored. Whether it's exquisite or not doesn't matter; the key is that you can see it at any time and write and mark on it at any time.

**(5) There is always only one most important task.**

I've seen many experts explain the relationship between whether a task is important and whether it's urgent, and how to assign task priorities. The reasoning is very clear: first do what is both important and urgent; what is neither important nor urgent of course can be ignored; if it's urgent but not important, you can well ignore it; if it's important but not urgent, on the contrary, handle it with priority…… However, my observation is that the real problem most people face isn't failing to understand this reasoning, but being unable to distinguish "really important" from "seeming important," and "really urgent" from "seeming urgent." There's only one criterion for judging whether something is really important: whether it benefits the achievement of your goal (whether long-term or short-term). But the criterion for judging whether a task is really urgent isn't so easy, because you always feel every one is urgent. However, experience tells us that truly urgent matters are very, very few; extreme emergencies almost only appear in stories. If you don't believe it, try delaying everything you feel is urgent for a while before handling it, and keep this up for about a month. In the end you'll understand that those things actually weren't that urgent. So you only need one criterion: whether this matter is really important. The reasoning after that is clear at a glance: the truly most important task is always only one—the task that really helps you achieve your goal.

**(6) Make a dedicated next-stage task list.**

In the process of completing your task list item by item, you'll find that, focused, your creativity suddenly surges. Each time you complete a small item on the task list, while in a pleasant mood you'll involuntarily look ahead to the future, and then you'll have fresh ideas! You'll feel you're so talented! So you'll feel other parts of this list of yours need revising…… But wait! Unless absolutely necessary, never change items on the list midway before the whole task is done. Once you do this, you'll find it "necessary" to keep changing one or more items on this task list, and in the end it may even mean the whole task can never be completed. If you have some fresh idea, giving it up would of course be a great pity. The right approach is to start another new list titled "Next-stage task list," record your fresh idea there, and then immediately return to the current task list and focus on the task you should be completing now. If some fresh idea suddenly appears again, do the same. The benefit of doing this is that after the current task is done, your "next-stage task list" already has a considerable number of very concrete pending items.

**(7) Make a checklist for each of your tasks.**

Every time I leave home, at the door I check one by one: glasses, cell phone, keys, wallet, cigarettes, lighter…… Only after checking each one do I step over the threshold and lock the door. This is exactly using the benefit of a checklist (Checklist) [Translator's note: the original writes 这就实在利用 ("this really uses"), a slip for 这就是在利用, "this is using"; translated by the intended sense] to avoid wasting time repeatedly because of omissions. The earlier example of shopping at the supermarket is the same. When implementing a plan and completing each item on the task list, you should assign a checklist to each item in advance, to confirm that the current task really is completed as expected. Very often, if some aspect is omitted, then later when carrying out the next item you're quite likely to have to interrupt it and go back to an earlier item stage that you thought was complete at the time but now must be supplemented—this kind of mistake often leads to a large waste of time. Sometimes a checklist doesn't have to be written down, because 1) if there are no more than 7 items, it can be done entirely in our heads; 2) you're already extremely familiar with many items, so you've long known the checklist for that item by heart. But some task items are relatively complex, so you'd better make, in advance, a checklist you can tick off, and check item by item to make sure nothing goes wrong.

**(8) Once a list starts being executed, it must be executed to the end.**

The most fundamental reason for accomplishing nothing is giving up. There are many ways to give up, and the most common is "switching to a better direction." If it really is a better direction, fine, but it seems that the "better direction" doesn't actually exist, because if you keep going like this you'll keep discovering "better directions." Never mistakenly think [Translator's note: the original writes 千万要误以为 ("by all means mistakenly think"), dropping the 不 of 千万不要; translated by the intended sense] that you're the only person who can keep finding "better directions." Everyone keeps "finding" "better directions"; how come we don't see everyone succeed? I've never believed nonsense like "everyone can succeed"; at most I believe "actually everyone originally had the possibility of succeeding." I always feel that a person's eventual success isn't because he once precisely planned his success; the key lies in his persistence. The process of heading toward success is roughly like this: your starting point is the South Pole, and the end of the path [Translator's note: the original writes 路经, a slip for 路径, "path"] to success is the North Pole. Then, whichever direction [Translator's note: the original writes 那个方向 ("that direction"), read as 哪个方向, "whichever direction"] you walk in, as long as you don't change direction midway, you'll eventually reach the North Pole. But if you change direction midway, or even change direction often, you'll almost never reach the North Pole, and may even return to the starting point. So first judge whether the task this list of yours represents is realistic; if you truly feel you can, and should, complete this task, then start doing it; and be sure to see it through to the end.

Copyright: © LookMinds. Our own edited text and translation, not a substitute for the original; rights in the original belong to the author and the platform. Please see the original link.