“I’m frustrated,” Eliana confided. “I know what I need to do. I know what’s important, but at the end of the day, I look up and it’s still not done.”
“So, what does this look like?” I asked.
“I studied my role. I read articles about project management. There are schedules. There is a specific sequence I have to follow. There are deadlines that have to be met. But, I get behind, and trying to catch up, sometimes, makes it worse.”
“Just because you know what to do doesn’t mean it gets done,” I smiled. “Everyone knows what to eat to be healthy, yet obesity is a major health problem. Every smoker knows the damage from smoking, but lung cancer kills more than 125,000 people each year. It’s not a matter of knowing, it is a matter of doing. Tell me, based on what you know, what small action can you start with, that if you do over and over, might make a difference?”
Eliana was silent, for a moment. “I am great at making to-do lists. But I rarely look at them once made. Maybe, every three or four days, I reluctantly look at the list, just to see what’s not done.”
“I am the same way,” I admitted. “To-do lists never helped me. It was fun to make the list, but not useful to create a habit. Time always got away from me. I always tried to get things done in my spare time.”
“That’s it. Same here. But, I never have any spare time, so the things on the list never get the proper attention.”
“How about meetings? Do you ever miss meetings?”
“Oh, no. I always make meetings,” Eliana replied. “I am very focused on my calendar.”
“Somehow, I knew that,” I nodded. “Here’s the difference between a to-do list and a calendar. A to-do list rarely calculates the real amount of time reserved for a specific task. And, it’s not the amount of time, but the time reserved. If you don’t reserve the time, the task will go undone. You may find it valuable, if you choose, to take each item on your to-do list and put it in your calendar. That forces you to consider the time it takes and reserves the time. I no longer make to-do lists. Anything I must do goes on my calendar. If it’s not on my calendar, it won’t get done.”