When You Are Unsure of What to Do With a Project, Start Making a List
It’s no secret that Lifehacker readers and writers love to-do lists . Complex and abstract tasks don’t always fit into this format, but either way, the best first step might be to make a list.
As productivity writer Scott Burkun explains, lists help us get ideas out of our heads and transform them into actionable formats. “Get the best job” is pretty abstract, but a few minutes of brainstorming can quickly turn this into a list of steps. For example, this task might look like this:
- Update resume.
- Find job listings.
- Contact friends in related areas.
- Study skills required for other work.
It’s still tricky, but now you have a few steps that you can actually start working on. Simple list building works both as a brainstorming session and as an organization. As Berkun explains:
We have convinced ourselves that we are so amazing that if we get stuck, we need a powerful and difficult method to save us, but this is arrogance. A well-written list is the quickest way out of most problem situations … Writing things down is powerful. Once thoughts are recorded, you can move, compare, combine, or separate as your thinking develops. If you work with others, lists force you to come up with a common language for describing tasks.
The simple act of holding a pen and placing it on the paper is often more than enough to keep your creative juices flowing and your problems grinding gears. Even if you don’t know what you need to write down, just try filling out a few points and use that as a stepping stone to the rest of your project.
When in doubt, make a list | Scott Burkun over 99u