To Do Lists at Metacool: A Way to Link Knowledge to Action

Diego at Metacool has an instructive and inspiring new post. He has a picture and a great discussion of a "To Do" list that was publicly displayed by the staff at the Denver Art Museum, which showed the things that they still needed to get done on a new addition.  I love this because it not only advertises to donors what things they need money for, it also creates public pressure on the staff to get things done.  As research on commitment shows, public proclamations are far harder to reverse than those that are made in private.  Perhaps this is the kind of thing that they suggest at the Department of Doing.

Comments

[Troy Steinmetz]

I have spent a lot of my college career doing things like this. As a wholesale procrastinator, but one who values keeping his word, I find that putting my commitment in public is a great motivator.

Last year, I had a total of 63 pages of papers to write in various classes during the last 2-3 weeks of the Spring Quarter. So, to motivate myself, I made one of those fundraising thermometers and posted it outside my room along with my list of assignments. It could have said "look how busy I am. I can't talk to you." Instead, it turned into a rallying point. My hallmates would stop in to check on me or congratulate me on a new milestone. They gave me a lot of encouragement, uplifting messages, and even a stress relief back massage or two.