Get Everything Done

Mark's No-List is the one list system I always come back to. I use a very constrained version, where I only write one undone thing on the list at a time. Two things I love about it...

1) I love how it forces intuition and intentionality, and removes resentment. Think of what's next, write it down, then work on it until I want to choose something else. Big, small, urgent, break time, whatever. That's the only rule — I pick whatever I want next, but I have to write it down first. Cross it off, repeat.

2) I love how I end the day with a list of what I actually did. It feels so much better than ending the day with a long list of what I didn't get done yet.

I was thinking about Mark this morning while listening to a podcast about a life of "grateful recounting", of the happiness that comes from reflecting on what you already have and did in your life, instead of the pressure of what you don't have and what was undone in your life (the podcast context was the common "bucket list").

It hit me that this idea was No-List for your life! Same concept, but different time scale.

Everything on a No-List is chosen in the moment, given whatever is "standing out" for you. At some level, you wanted to work on it. A Life No-List can be the same way. It helps you tune in to what's really going on for you, year after year, in your relationship with your environment and the people around you. This day, and then the next. I've missed a lot of important things because I was so buried in my long lists that I turned off my intuitive radar. Now, I can feel myself noticing and intentionally choosing things around me. "This is what I'm doing now." It feels fresh and in-touch and alive. Also, there is surprisingly little background noise about some other thing I think I should be doing, because if it keeps popping up, I can just choose it next!

Then years or decades later, a Life No-List is full of all the things you actually did. It's all those treasured memories, the joys and challenges, your adaptive moments, the things you successfully did. And isn't that what we really want, rather than an epic aspirational list of ultimately undone things?

NOTE: Yes, I do write things down on other lists, because things often pile up faster than I can do them, and I want to be responsible. However, I work from my generated-in-the-moment No-List. And it never ceases to amaze me that simply reviewing those other lists from time-to-time is enough to prime my brain so I don't miss anything significant. I also find I notice more options around me that weren't on another list to begin with.

I'm grateful to Mark for this. I can look back on my day or year and appreciate the significant list of things I did. And, I can look forward with curiosity at what might end up on my No-List a day or a year from now.

Scott, thank you for this. I have been using Mark's Dreams approach exclusively. Yesterday I tried going back to Push mode, using structured time blocking. It was a disaster.

I decided to come here for more inspiration in this approach and read your post. When I saw your habit of writing down what you're doing, I thought there was no point. But you've made a wonderful case for writing everything down and then using it as a way of recording your life. I love it and I'm going to try it. Thank you!