The Mind List Method Foundations
How long is your to-do list?
How many weeks, months, or even years, have some of your to-do items been lying there unchecked? Have you ever found an old notebook with to-do items that you never ticked off?
If you are like most people, your answer will probably cause you anxiety and unease. No one likes staring at an overwhelmingly long list of random tasks and ambitions that seem never-ending.
Nevertheless, thereâs no need to feel inadequate. Youâre not alone! According to a survey, 41% of items on the average to-do list are never finished.
Were these unfinished items significant? Probably not. If something is fundamental, it will likely get done, with or without a to-do list.
Your to-do list is most likely a byproduct of your FOMO and over-ambitious goals.
These long, overdue and unfinished to-do lists will eventually weigh you down mentally, causing anxiety, stress, and loss of confidence.
So what is a better alternative to the traditional to-do list? Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the mighty Mind List.
I came up with the Mind List method several years back when I had trouble focusing. The Mind List method has helped me increase my productivity significantly and created massive headspace.
I introduced the Mind List to friends and family and had excellent feedback. So, let me walk you through the method.
To start using a Mind List, you will first need to get rid of ALL your To-Do lists. You are allowed to keep a temporary To-Do list, which will expire within seven days. If something is that important and worth keeping, it should get completed within seven days. Seven days is plenty. After this period, you shouldnât keep a To-Do list (If you want to reap the benefits of the Mind List method)
A Mind List, simply put, is a super-efficient To-List that will help you focus and prevent brain clutter. This method will only yield if you adopt a productivity effectiveness mindset.
You can use a notebook, a piece of paper, or software to track your Mind-List (just like a To-Do list). I use OneNote, which syncs with all my other devices too. (Itâs a free tool that I use for taking and organising notes)
Start with a blank page. Then just leave it at that. Do NOT try to fill it in, and do NOT try to add items to the Mind List only for the sake of having something there.
First step: Plan your day in advance
For the Mind List to work effectively, you must plan what youâll be doing through your days in the mornings or the evening before. It will not perform as well if youâre not optimising your life to achieve your maximum potential. It will not produce results if you do not plan your days.
I use a calendar to lay out my day. You donât need to be methodical. Just have some idea of whatâs about to happen through your day will do. A great sailor can get lost in the oceans without her map, but an ordinary sailor can find their destination with a map.
If the idea of organising your day ahead is too much for you, then I would suggest going with the Pomodoro method. You focus on ONE TASK for a fixed duration (letâs say 45 minutes), and you take a 10-minute break, then you repeat the process.
In essence, you have to ALLOCATE and BLOCK TIME for each task.
Second step: Filling in your Mind List
Once youâve allocated time for a specific task, you then tackle that task WITHOUT distractions or interruptions.
Now, this is where the Mind List becomes very compelling. It is common to get distracting thoughts when youâre working. And what happens usually is that we act on some of these distractions because they may seem significant. For example, you may suddenly realise you have forgotten to pay your electricity bill. Or you remember itâs your brotherâs birthday next week and you havenât bought a gift yet.
Most people will interrupt their work in this case, open a new tab, try to find a gift for their Brotherâs birthday on Amazon, or get on the phone to pay their electricity bill. Once done, they will get distracted for another 30 minutes, and now before they know it, itâs lunchtime, followed by two meetings.
Some other less important distractions, which are also very common, could be the urge to check your social media or watch that funny cat video again.
Not sticking to your schedule can cause a snowball effect in which you will have to sacrifice some other more enjoyable tasks (such as going to the gym.) to complete the jobs where you got distracted.
Here is a simple solution that will increase your productivity by at least 50%. Anytime you have distracting thoughts, write them down on the Mind List, and deal with them in batches, in a Mind List allocated time slot on your calendar.
Going back to the example given earlies, instead of opening a new tab to search for a birthday gift, write down âBuy a Birthday gift for brotherâ in the Miind List and continue your focus session. Instead of stopping your work to pay the electricity bill, write it down on the Mind List. Instead of watching that cat video immediately, write it down on the Mind list and watch it later. Instead of checking your social media directly, write it down on the Mind List and do it later.
If youâve read the book Chimp Paradox (I recommend you read it if not), you know how important it is to keep your Monkey Brain satisfied. Writing down the little non-important instant gratification urges on the Mind List tells your Monkey Brain: Yo, listen up, we canât do it right now. Iâm busy, BUT I PROMISE we will deal with your weird and irrelevant urgest after finishing my focus hour.
If a task is significant and worth doing, it will eventually find itâs way to your Mind List. Thatâs why you do not need a To-Do list. To-Do lists are delusional. Iâve seen how To-Do lists are composed. A person takes out their notebook, makes a cup of coffee, then thinks hard about what needs to get done. Then they start filling the page with tasks that are not even that important. Their brain tricks them into creating tasks just for the sake of filling in the page. This practice is not a systematic approach and will cause long lists that will only cause anxiety and result in unfinished To-Do lists.
Third Step: Tackling through the Mind List
When you plan your day, make sure you allocate MIND LIST slots in your schedule.
Below is an example of a simple day planner. (They donât need to get complicated. Make sure you have at least some idea of expectations on each given hour of the day)
When youâre getting just started, you will probably have a smaller Mind List. Thus the allocated time slots will be smaller. As you begin to understand your Mind List, the duration of these allocations will increase to cater to longer lists.
Dayâs Plan Example:
07:30 – Wake up, Coffee
08:00 – Read
09:00 – Tackle emails
10:00 – MIND LIST
11:00 – Write Marketing Report
12:00 – Website Updates
13:00 – Lunch
14:00 – Accounts
15:00 – Respond to Tons of Tinder Matches
17:00 – Employee Meeting
18:00 – MIND LIST
19:00 – GYM
21:00 – Shower / Dinner
22:00 – Chill
23:00 – Chill
00:00 – Sleep
In the example above, youâll have from 10:00-11:00 , and then again from 18:00-19:00 to go through your Mind List.
These are the guilt-free timeslots, where you can tackle everything that was on your mind through your focus sessions.
This is your opportunity to call your electricity company and pay the bill, watch that cat video, and buy a gift for your brother.
Most likely some of your urges, such as, watch the cat video, have gone. So just simply delete these. Do try to satisfy the monkey brain in these Mind List sessions, as your monkey brain will become more aggressive during your focus sessions if not attended to in your Mind List sessions.
The Mind List sessions are also an opportunity to organise the list.
Place the important stuff on the top of the list. Not so important goes on the bottom of the list.
I personally have the additional sections on my Mind List:
- Ideas – This is where I move the ideas I came up with and want to explore later (Instead of just researching the idea during my focus sessions, I write them down, so I wonât forget. 99% of the times, the ideas end up being rubbish, but the other 1% could be life changing.
- Shopping list – Sometimes when weâre working, we remember we have ran out of coffee, or stumbled across a cool gadget that we may want to look into. These stuff go in my Shopping list. I also look at this list when I am doing my weekly shopping.
- Watch / Read list –Â If I come across a cool article, or a cool educational video, that I think I MUST watch, I put them here.
- Long term goals / wishes / things I want to do – Whilst I am working, I might suddenly think that, oh learning to play the Piano is something I always wanted to do. Or, oh, I want to start doing marathons, fly a helicopter, etc. These will go here. And I will look at this list when I am planning my goals and objectives every 6 months. (Separate article on that)
- I also break the Mind-List into segments, that I can batch process, e.g. I put all email related activity in one group. You don’t need a complicated system. You just need to put relevant task next to each other .
As per the focus sessions, make sure you do not get distracted from Mind-List sessionâs objectives. Tackle as many as you can through your allocated session. The aim is to keep the list as short as possible.
Conclusion and summary
This method, if followed methodically, will increase your effectiveness by at least 50%. It will also reduce your anxiety and FOMO.
Get rid of your todo list, and never look back. Do not think actively on âwhat to doâ. If something is very important, it WILL end up on your Mind List.
Organise your days into FOCUS blocks. Pick a task to finish in your Focus block. During these sessions, any distractive thoughts / to-dos should go on your Mind-List.
Pick a couple of slots throughout your day to organise and tackle your Mind-List.
Last but not least, I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Please make sure you comment below. If you decide to try this method, please send me an email and let me know how youâre getting on.
