Ask Yourself ‘Why?’ To Prune Your To-Do Lists

When you’re trying to get things done, it’s easy to just throw every task onto a big list and plough through it as quickly as possible. When your lists get filled with useless junk, you lose sight of the higher goals. Productivity blog Stepcase Lifehack suggests you remember to occasionally ask yourself “why am I getting things done?” to help prune your to-do lists so they help you achieve bigger goals.

Photo by Amelia Wells.

The idea is that a to-do list — or any goal you might have — is all a part of a larger scheme. These should all play well together. Stepcase Lifehack offers a simple example:

[W]hen you are doing the mundane “readying the TPS reports”, you can link this small task or project on your list to the “why” of being an awesome family man/woman.

If your to-do list items can’t be linked back to a higher life goal, they might not be worth doing. This isn’t going to work for everything you do, but it’s a good question to ask yourself when your to-do list is out of control and needs to be cut back.

Why Are You Getting Things Done? [Stepcase Lifehack]