S. Schrager, Elizabeth Sadowski
Feb 1, 2016
Citations
0
Influential Citations
17
Citations
Journal
Journal of graduate medical education
Abstract
Most successful people plan what they need to accomplish. It has been demonstrated that having a written plan of action increases productivity. Studies looking at the effect of writing down a list of things to do date back to the 1920s and an Eastern European psychologist named Bluma Zeigarnik. The so-called ‘‘Zeigarnik Effect’’ demonstrated that the act of planning activities through ‘‘to-do’’ lists actually reduced executive burden on the brain by freeing the brain from having to worry about unfinished tasks. More recent studies confirmed the Zeigarnik Effect by finding that when people were not allowed to finish a warm-up activity, they performed poorly on a subsequent brainstorming activity. The implication is that people are more effective when they are able to cross off the first thing on their list. It allows them to go on to the next thing. There are multiple ways to keep track of things to do. The traditional to-do list is created with a pen and paper. There are also multiple electronic to-do list applications for computers, tablets, or smartphones. Stephen Covey, in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, describes a method of setting goals and then prioritizing tasks within those goals. He recommends prioritizing to-do lists into urgent and not urgent, important and not important. For faculty who are writing scholarly papers, breaking down each task into smaller tasks will help make the to-do list more effective. For instance, instead of putting ‘‘write paper’’ on the list, you can itemize each individual component, such as ‘‘write introduction’’ or ‘‘make tables.’’ Finding a Balance: Learning to Say ‘‘No’’