Vaughan Gunson: New Year's resolutions and the mysterious power of the 'to do list'

The "to do lists" I've written for my high school aged children in the morning before leaving for work really work, says Vaughan Gunson. Photo/Getty Images

To write more "to do lists" is on my list of New Year's resolutions. In fact, there are only two things on my list: 1. Write more "to do lists" and 2. Do the things written on said "to do lists".

There's just something about a list of things to do that can't be denied. There's powerful alchemy at work. When I write one, it never fails to increase my task completion for the day.

My big problem is writing the list in the first place, hence my New Year's resolution, which could be the most life-changing one I've come up with yet.

A "to do list", to be successful, has to be physical. A mental list isn't good enough. A list in the head is liable to erasure, willed or unconscious.

A written list, however, is like a contract. It's a contractual arrangement between your responsible, strong-willed self and your weak-willed, shirker self.

Written down, put on the fridge, left floating around on the dining table, on your desk at work, it's now in the public domain.

To screw up the list and put it in the bin without completing it would be a violation of the contract.

And you'll still be able to see the list in your memory. Your failure to complete it will gnaw at you.

Conversely, a completed list, the tasks ticked or crossed off and then thrown in the bin is immensely satisfying. We get a fist-pump worth of happy chemicals going to the brain. You've fulfilled your responsibility to the list maker (your better self).

A "to do list" has authority, there's no elaborations, justifications or sub-clauses. The list says you must mow the lawns this weekend. Full stop.

The list doesn't say mow the lawns if you feel like it, or only if New Zealand looks like losing the cricket. A list doesn't enter into any negotiations.

The list becomes the sergeant major to your inner private. There's a chain of command that must be respected.

The beauty of lists is that you can also give them to other people. Which leads me to the most successful implementation of list writing so far this year.

It's been the "to do lists" I've written for my high school-aged children in the morning before leaving for work.

Knowing that left to their own devices they'll most likely spend all day watching TV or playing video games, a parent has to come up with countermeasures. A list of small jobs and tasks has been the answer.

Walk the dog, do the dishes, hang out washing, collect chicken eggs, vacuum lounge, empty rubbish bins.

Amazingly, we come home and these things have been done. Each small task itemised on a piece paper left on the dining table, often while they're still in bed, has been dutifully crossed out.

Who knew I possessed such authority, that I garnered such respect from my kids?
Or is it, again, the mysterious power of the "to do list" that holds sway? All I know is that it's working.

All praise to the "to do list". Amen.