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Stop Making To-Do Lists

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Make flowcharts instead.

Something I’ve noticed as a throughline of the numerous self-help and productivity books I’ve read in my 20s is the crowds of productivity and self-help coaches tend to all dispense the same information.

Atomic Habits – make a list

Deep Work – make a list

(list other popular productivity books).

Something I think they all do wrong is tell you to power through emotional blocks or outright ignore your emotions. I don’t believe this. Emotions give us a ton of valuable signals about where our brain is feeling jammed up. Why lists? They don’t work with our natural cognitive function.

Let’s go back to where it all started – the invention of society. We learned to draw before we learnt to write. The brain remembers images better than text. Flowcharts provide sequencing. Lists, even when organized miss something I find extremely import – entry points. Drawing out a flowchart gets you in the right cognitive mode to take action. Something about how executive functioning works. Cause and effect allows you to perceive the personal benefits, which makes you emotionally invested, which helps you initiate. Human brains love stories. This creates a story.

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