What do you think?

You are in office, not knowing what to do next. It’s not that you don’t have anything to do. You do have a long “to-do list”. It’s just that you don’t want to do anything. You would be anywhere else than in your office. How do you tackle this situation?

I would rather raise a different question. Why does such a situation arise? The basic reason why you have a long “to-do list” is because you do maintain a “to-do list”. Jokes apart, a “to-do” list does get longer if you keep doing things outside the list. Try to add another column “What has been done”. Most people would be filling that column with tasks outside their “To be done” list.

A model “to-do list”

Date	To be done	What has been done	Remarks
02-05-2006	Check liability statements with liability bills		????
	Capitalisation of WIP	Half done. There are more items identified during capitalization.	We never get satisfied right.
	Broad band modem statement completion		I did start that. On a second thought did I?
		A discussion on FBT.	Went on so long “enriching” me with experiences of a superior that is not relevant
		A discussion with internal auditor.	There is a difference of opinion b/w my superior and the auditor. They don’t discuss directly for that might solve the problem.

If this is what that is going to happen what do you think is the use of a ‘to-do list”?