Blog Post 10: Being Careful with a To-Do List

Let’s talk more about to-do lists. It’s very easy to fall into a trap of “I will do that when I finish this,” or “Let me just finish this one thing” - and we end up with a list that never ends!  It’s important to really look at the list and see what we are spending time on - are there things that we have really thought about and want to be present with? 

I (Kore) often waste time folding laundry or straightening the house when I could take that time to read, call a friend, or go for a walk - things that are more restorative for me. Some of these household chores could be farmed out to spouses or children if we are assertive enough to ask for help. Or we could push some of these less restorative tasks until the end of the day, making sure we’ve made time for ourselves first. 

So often, we pay way too much attention to the list and say to ourselves things like “I'll get to the reading or exercise when I'm done” - and then night comes and of course, this doesn’t happen. Or we might say to ourselves, “I’ll just do this one more thing. It will only take a minute." And we lose the time for ourselves.

The key is to start small and notice daily where we’re putting our time instead of being on automatic pilot. Asking ourselves, is it helpful or hurtful in the long run if I do this now? If I do this now, what might I not be able to do later in the day?