From the course: Building a Better To-Do List

The value of verbs on to-do lists

From the course: Building a Better To-Do List

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The value of verbs on to-do lists

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- If I walked up to you and said, "this lesson," you'd probably give me a curious look. But if I said, "Watch this lesson," or, "Write this lesson," then your reaction would be different. And all it took was one word to change your reaction, a verb. Every time you look at your to-do list, you're looking at it with a fresh set of eyes. That's why using verbs is valuable. They help you know what type of action to take for each item on your to-do list. Here are three qualities that verbs offer and the reasons why you need to make sure that you use verbs consistently on your to-do list. Number one, verbs make it possible for you to take action. An item on your to-do list without a verb has no action associated with it, so it can't be done. That's why "Watch this lesson" works instead of just having "this lesson." With the verb there, you know what to do with the article no matter when you decide to do it. Number two, verbs make to-do items easier to delegate. Remember when I walked up to you and said, "this lesson?" You had no idea what do do with that, did you? But as soon as I said, "Watch this lesson," you could take action. By ensuring verbs are a part of your to-do list, you future-proof them for delegation either to yourself at a later date or to someone else. Number three, verbs let you group like actions together for better flow. When you use verbs at the beginning for every item on your to-do list, like "Watch this lesson," then you can group everything you need to watch together and block out time to do all of your watching at once. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has written about the state of flow, some people call it being in the zone, and the way to get into and stay in flow is to do similar types of activity over a stretch of time, instead of doing different activities in the same time frame. If you want to get into the zone, then group your tasks by verb, or activity. You'll get there faster and stay there longer. Now that you know the value of a verb, don't forget to make them a key element of every item on your to-do list. That way, when you look at your to-do list, you'll spend less time guessing and more time going.

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