I Am Killing My To Do Lists

While I was preparing The Big FIVE post, I was adding a few details to each of the Big Five and I wrote the line "joyfully marking things off of your to do list" in the category of "schedule time for yourself to do things you enjoy".

I stopped.

I don't enjoy my to do list.  That todolist.txt file on my desktop never ends.  We even have a Basecamp account for a collection of all of our to do lists across our life.  None of them ever get short enough that I feel
like it is a productive tool or that I could delete it.  I often feel guilt or pressure to be doing the things on my to do lists instead of __________ (insert anything). 


I recently read that the undone nagging items on your to do list are more harmful to your health than having red meat 6 nights a week.  I went to Google to search to find the quote - my search term was "your to do list will kill you".  I wanted to find the quote because I wasn't sure if it was red meat once a week, or 6 nights a week...

Second link:  Kill Your To-Do List | zen habits



He says get rid of your to do lists for .. literally all the reasons I hate my to do lists.


He has a "The One Thing System"
1. He wakes up in the morning, and decides what One Thing he is excited about
2. Then he focuses on doing that, pushing everything else aside, clearing distractions, and allowing himself to get caught up in the moment.


He doesn't worry what else is on his list, because he doesn't have one - just this One Thing on his list.
He doesn't have to check anything off because he doesn't really have a list.
He doesn't have to worry about things not getting done because he only does the one thing he wants to do - or he wouldn't be doing it.


If he finishes his One Thing early, then he can slack off, or go on to the next One Thing.


You can make a list of possible things to do, or routine tasks that need to be done for one reason or another.  Consider them SUGGESTIONS of becoming your One Thing.


For the important things, he states that we know what we need to get done.  If you are a writer, you usually know what to write, a designer, you already have an idea of what you are working on.  So you don't need a list - you just need to forget about any lists, and start working. =)


I am going to try this and see how it works for me. =)