How To Build A To-Do List That Won’t Completely Burn You Out
Benefit of being intentional with our daily checklist
Gloria Steinem said, “Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”
If you are planned, organized, cautious, and hardworking, you may seem to have it all together.
Your life will look pristine, and no one would guess there’s trouble brewing because you are meticulous. So, how could anything go wrong?
But let’s look beyond the façade.
Not long ago, this was me. I was a planner who always lived life on a checklist. I was always on top of things, and my life was organized and seamless with the mental list operating system I had in my head. It was a beautiful system, and it worked on autopilot. At the end of every day, I would sign off the old to-do list and incorporate a new one for the day ahead. I missed no schedule or opportunity; My life was chill, calm, and predictable. I was dependable, and everyone counted on me. You could call me a dynamite planning robot of sorts.
The benefit of a system like this is that nothing escapes you because you have an airtight plan and can control whatever curveball life throws at you. It keeps you in the driver’s seat of your life.
The problem arises when such a system begins to take over your life. Soon enough, it captured my throne and sovereignty and became a tyrant. It started to bully me and remind me of everything I had not done. Slowly, I started overworking and doing more than required, leading to needless exhaustion with no time to nourish and nurture myself.
One day, as I lay exhausted, tired, and worn out, I reflected on how I wanted my life to pan out. I started by scribbling on a book a list of things I had no time for but wanted to do. The basic list included resting, relaxing, having some me time, dressing up, and going for a massage.
I started honoring my wishes on that list, albeit slowly, in small increments.
From that small, insignificant list, my fun list evolved to reading, writing, going for walks, and numerous other things that nourished me. This change taught me that all these activities are essential because they help you thrive. After all, all work and no play make Jack a dull boy! Most of these are simple, but our conditioning to overwork makes us ignore and neglect them.
How do we correct overplanning and a never-ending to-do list?
What helped me was to rethink the way I planned my day. Besides essential work, my daily checklist started, including what nourished me. Initially, it was difficult because, like everyone else, I believed that productivity was crucial and found it wasteful to spend time on leisure and rest.
However, when I attended the Bliss Study Group, headed by Artie Wu, founder of Preside Meditation, I became aware of everything I held meaning to and loved. He posed a few insightful and life-changing questions for reflection.
Some of them were:
1. If we lived for 120 years without worrying about money or other things, what would we spend our time doing? This question nudged me in the right direction and made me aware of all the things I loved, something I had forgotten in the busyness of everyday life.
2. He then invited us to dig deeper and discover what positive feelings these things evoked. It was insightful to understand why I did the things I loved and the feelings they evoked in me.
3. Then, we investigated the negative feelings each activity produced in us. It was my most significant aha moment because I was surprised that the things I loved had negative feelings. With time, I became aware that I started to loathe those activities when I did an excessive amount of them and neglected other areas. It helped me be mindful of the point at which actions turned from love to annoyance.
4. We also reflected on the things we did as children, the voluntary work we took part in, or the things we turned to in boredom. We reflected on how it made us feel and how all the things we love fit into our larger scheme of life.
Being aware of the things I love and the significance they hold for me changed my perspective on life. I stopped leading a robotic life and started living one that was more authentic and fulfilling. The first step is to make a list of the things I love. By doing so, I essentially created a treasure chest of the things I could come back to whenever I had nothing to turn to, was bored, stressed, or had spare time. I used different activities depending on what the situation warranted.
Benefits of having a checklist of the things you love:
It’s like a magic box of tricks: of things that you enjoy and love that you can resort to whenever you need it.
It makes you self-dependent: As you start nourishing yourself with things that light you up, you learn that no one person or thing can make you happy. It taught me to depend on myself for happiness and peace of mind. Whenever I felt low, I could choose something from the list to perk me up.
It helps you be aware. It enables you to be aware of the things you have neglected in your life — the things you need to revisit and spend more time doing.
It allows you to honor yourself: It teaches you to honor your needs, spend time with yourself, and make time for them, which builds a reservoir of strength and wisdom within you to rely on and trust yourself.
It enriches you. It makes you look at things from a new perspective and open to new ideas.
It helps you build your connection circle by allowing you to interact, connect, and socialize with people with similar interests. It’s a great conversation starter.
It makes you empathic: It helps you empathize with people who are not as fortunate as you are in life and makes you see things from different perspectives.
It makes you whole by making you look at life holistically and not be one-sided.
It helps you set boundaries and be assertive: When you spend time on yourself, you build your confidence to be assertive, set boundaries with others, and don’t do other people’s unnecessary work.
It makes you feel fulfilled: You do things you love, and not out of fear or compulsion. It makes you the captain of your ship, and you decide your life rather than letting people or situations control you.
It has a magnetic effect on people around you: Others get inspired to change.
Brian Tracy said, “ The checklist is one of the most high-powered productivity tools ever discovered.” So, start by making one with includes the things you love. And when you get on with your daily checklist, please incorporate even the fun and things in it. You will find it makes you productive, happier, and fulfilled.
Originally published at https://thoughtcatalog.com on May 18, 2021.
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