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Life in General


HOW TO WRITE THE MOST DOABLE TO-DO LIST


GET A SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT FROM CROSSING SOMETHING—ANYTHING—OFF YOUR LIST OF
TASKS.

By
Meredith Dietz

Friday 9:30AM

Comments (2)
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Photo: Suzanne Tucker (Shutterstock)


No matter how many productivity hacks you’ve tried, the one thing that is hard
to shake is the overwhelming to-do list. When faced with a daunting task (or
many daunting tasks), the first steps are always the most challenging. If this
is the case for you, one approach is to make sure those first steps are as small
as possible. I’m talking teensy, tiny baby steps. Whenever you’re stuck staring
at a lofty to-do list, it might be time to break it down into the most doable
to-do list you can dream up.


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WHY THE MINI TO-DO LIST WORKS

Mini-list items turn even the most mundane tasks into something you can
theoretically cross off, all while gradually building up in difficulty. The goal
is to take the sense of accomplishment that comes with crossing
something—anything—off your list, and then harnessing that accomplishment to
motivate yourself further.

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This hack actually comes from a depression coping strategy. Like with feeding
yourself when you’re depressed, many of us understand how painfully simple tasks
can quickly turn into a daunting list of steps that you struggle to complete.
Sometimes showering isn’t simply “showering;” it turns into taking off all your
clothes, putting those clothes somewhere, getting the water to the right
temperature, standing upright for 10 minutes, going through the motions of
washing your hair and your face and your body, choosing when to stop the stream
of water, drying off, and then selecting a new outfit and getting those clothes
and so on and so forth.

But you don’t have to be diagnosed with depression to give yourself the same
grace you otherwise would need.

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KICK-START YOUR MINI TO-DO LIST

Like with the showering example above, often a task that should be one list item
starts to feel like 20 smaller items. Use that to your advantage. All those
mini-steps can be reframed as bite-sized sources of accomplishment.


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And so, if you’re struggling with the very first step of coming up with a to-do
list, here are some manageable ideas to kick off your list:

 * Turn “make bed” into “get out from under covers, get out of bed, straighten
   pillows...”
 * Turn “send emails” into “open laptop, log into email, hit ‘reply,’ draft
   email outline, write subject line, etc...”
 * Turn “workout” into “pick out exercise clothes, decide on type of workout,
   listen to pump-up song, lace shoes, fill water bottle...”

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This micro-level of to-do list items are all you need to get yourself in motion.
You don’t have to actually write it all down, but the physical act of crossing
items off certainly helps.

One last note: Avoid multitasking here. Your goal is about crossing things off.
You already broke down bigger tasks into bite-sized chunks, so don’t get tempted
into merging tasks right back into those bigger items.

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Life in General




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