We can have any number of types of task lists, be they a perspective, a context, or a project. Some lists stick around: the daily list, phone calls to make, things to file, agenda items, and more. They fill up, we clear them, and they fill up again.
Two questions we can ask when approaching any list are:
- Do I intend to complete this list?
- If so, how often?
These questions are useful because completable lists affect us differently. When we can arrange a list to be completed regularly, we effectively create a reliable channel of work. Whatever we throw in there, so long as it isn't large enough to clog the system, has a good chance of being done. As soon as one task starts to stick around though, other tasks tend to stall, too, and soon we're wading through cobwebs.
We can consider a Principle of Completable Lists ...
