The Two Item To Do List
It has been a game changer for me
The only thing about to do lists I am good at is writing them. Then I look at a typical list of ten or more things I need to get done and proceed to do none of them. It’s almost as though writing them down is exhausting.
But these things needed to get done and they weren’t. And they were not big deal jobs, they were basically things like cleaning or replanting my sad house plants. The type of jobs that could easily be put off.
I’m pretty productive at the things I like to do. As a writer, knocking off a thousand word piece daily never feels like work. Cooking a meal for a group is a form of therapy for me, relaxing and focused. But dusting bookshelves or rescuing a wilting plant? Not so much.
The problem with procrastination is the to do list keeps growing until it is too daunting to deal with. But a few weeks ago I decided to try a different strategy. Instead of that daunting list I would pick two tasks daily and do them. The tasks had to be things I could knock off relatively easily and I had to actually do them each day. So I tried it.
The first day it was dusting bookshelves and mopping the bathroom floor, basically fifteen minute tasks, but things I could see done the next day with some satisfaction. And it turns out small things add up fast.
