To-Do Lists Are Pointless Without This Unusual First Step

How to use Design Thinking principles to supercharge your productivity (part 1)

Sep 09, 2024

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I’ve spent almost half my career in the field of Design Thinking. In this first article of five, we’re going to explore how one of its principles can help you be more productive.

Design Thinking is a creative problem-solving approach that helps you understand people’s needs, think creatively, and produce innovative ideas. It’s like putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, exploring a problem from different angles, trying out new ideas, and learning as you go.

Think of it as a playful, hands-on way to tackle challenges, where you’re encouraged to experiment, make mistakes, and keep refining your solution until it works really well. It's all about being curious, collaborative, and open-minded.

On to today’s article!

How many times have you received an ambiguous task that you aren’t clear on how to start?

We often start projects or work without considering where we need to get to. What’s the bigger picture? Where are we trying to get to? And why do we want to get there?

If your work is anything like mine, you see these kinds of tasks daily.

Procrastination is often rife when you don’t know how to approach a task.

In consulting, we call it ‘navigating the grey.’

Figuring out the answer relies on stumbling around in the dark for a while until something trips us up, and we face plant right into a sharp (or smelly) obstacle.

When you don’t get this right, it doesn’t matter which direction you’re going, you’re not going to get there.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Having a standard way of approaching ‘the grey,’ is like flicking on the light switch and seeing the lay of the land, even the messy bits.

But how do you find the light switch when you don’t even know the shape of the room?

You start with the end in mind.

When I was pregnant with both children, one of the first things I did (aside from download the app that tells me what fruit my unborn baby is similar in size to), was to create my birth plan.

For those that don’t know – a birth plan is a list of the parents’ requirements that lets the maternity team, know exactly what you do or don’t want, whilst you’re in the throes of screaming, cursing, or biting people.

Of course, births rarely go to plan, which, both times, I can testify to.

However, my point is this: when you’ve never given birth before, you have no idea what to expect. So, you think about the end state and what you want to achieve – i.e. a healthy baby delivered safely, and a body that is not too mangled up in the process.

When it comes to tasks that are ambiguous and unclear, or just mammoth that you don’t know where to start, you can use the same concept.

Start with the end in mind and work backwards.

The wonderful thing about starting with the end in mind, is that you get to be creative and free.

You can design the outcome that you want in an ideal world.

You can’t get there from HERE, but you can get here from THERE – Design Thinking Axiom

Going from chaos to focus — Image created by author using DALL-E

By painting a picture of the ideal future state of that task/activity, you can imagine what the world will look and feel like once you have overcome that problem or completed that task.

This creates a vivid route back to where you are now, in terms of the steps that you can take to achieve that future state.

There are four key benefits to doing this:

You are clear on your purpose.

By defining the ultimate goal or desired outcome before beginning a task, you create a clear path to follow. This eliminates time wasted on unimportant activities and helps you prioritise your efforts.

You know where to focus.

Knowing the end goal allows you to break down the task into actionable steps, which can be organized and tackled efficiently. This reduces decision fatigue and maintains momentum.

You reduce procrastination.

When you have a distinct picture of the desired result, it's easier to stay motivated and avoid distractions. You're more likely to push through challenges because you have a clear "why."

You allow your creativity to shine.

When you’re focused on the end result, whatever ideas you produce won’t be constrained by the limitations of today. This can allow you to make big innovative leaps and challenge the way you’re going to do the task in the first place.

Now in my example, I did say that the births didn’t go to plan, but they did achieve the desired outcome – healthy babies delivered safely.

Just because you map out your ideal state, doesn’t mean that the route to get there isn’t going to change, but if you always have your eye on the end destination or outcome then you’re more likely to achieve the result you want.

Mindset shift

To make this work though, you need to have a mindset shift.

Be open to getting out of your comfort zone, experimenting, and trying different approaches to achieve your desire goal.

When I look at my now 18-month-old Blueberry, her work is to play. She learns about the world through her interactions with us, her teddies, and moving objects from place to place.

As we get older, and attend structured school systems, we gradually lose this ability to learn creatively through play, moulded instead by the multitude of examinations and curriculums.

But getting back to playing with the problem can lead to wonderful innovative ideas and concepts being born.

The Takeaway

To enjoy a productive week apply the principle of starting with the end in mind. Think about what success looks like in the form of the end result you’re trying to achieve, and work backwards from there.

Do this before creating your to-do list, as the list will inevitably look different than anticipated, if you do.

I’d love to hear how you might start with the end in mind this week.

What challenges are on your plate that you could use this approach for?