The simple list that ended my procrastination spiral

Reader beware ⚠️.

Once you consume and consider what is written below, you will know a cause of, and solution to, much suffering (of the self-imposed kind). It will rob you of any remaining ignorance on the matter as ignorance is the lack of knowledge or information and a heap of both is contained within.

Once you know how to act on what you’ve been avoiding, it’ll be on you to make it happen. Ignorance may be bliss, but is it serving you?

What I know is this

If I did anything today other than completing or making verifiable progress on at least one meaningful activity, then I am actively choosing to prolong my unsatisfied and anxious days. 

Telling myself I will do something or making a promise to someone else and then not doing it is a surefire way for me to feel frustrated and stressed by the evening. 

I do not want that outcome. I want to feel successful in the ways that matter to me. ‘Meaningful’ activities are in the eye of the beholder, which—in the case of self-appointed To-Do’s and accepted accountabilities of my employment—is me. I value personal satisfaction and getting paid. 

I do not like nagging, perennial tasks; the ones lingering over me when I wake up because I had not seen to them, asked someone else to do them, or decided they were no longer of relevance or important.

I could move forward, I could stand still, or I could drop them. That choice is mine and mine alone. 

I feel a profound sense of control over my fate when I treat every experience as something I have done well (to get here) or something I could have done better (to avoid it). I prefer being in the driver’s seat instead of letting other’s hold the wheel.

I do not expect to do everything in one day, nor should I try; that is equally a recipe for resentment within myself and outwardly towards people who merely asked for a favour at the ‘wrong’ time. They are free to ask and I am free to say ‘No’, but the less clear I am on my priorities, the more I am likely to overcommit myself to too many things. 

That’s not great for anyone. 

A way out

Oliver Burkeman put it best yesterday in saying, “The only way a long-term project will ever get done is by giving it a few minutes now, over and over.”

Take a moment to read this over or skip below; you have the power here.

Apt words and wiser conclusions. 

And I was missing something. I had fallen out of my outdoor, morning journalling habit to kick-start my day, and it showed. I was doing things all over the place and growing frustrated by the day, until I was reminded of a simple ‘truth’ I had known yet lost along the way. 

There are many ways to write a To-Do list, but there was one that had served me best. To get moving towards an evergreen sense of daily accomplishment, I offer this non-secret, lather-rinse-and-repeat prioritisation technique. 

Grab the closest scrap sheet of paper near you, peel off a Post-It®, or open a new digital note on your phone. You already have all the assets you need if you’re reading or listening to this digitally. Don’t back away now—you’re doing this for you, no one else. 

Write this at the top: “Top 3 things I am anxious about today”. Alternatively, if your paper permits the space, go unambiguously verbose like “Top 3 things that, if completed, would make everything else feel easier to handle.” I like to draw a big, fat line under that section title to visually distinguish what is my prerogative and what are my Top 3 opportunities to achieve that or impediments to overcome. 

Because I have not reached a state of enlightenment free from desire and therefore free from things troubling me, creating this Top 3 list is easy. My fleshy, mortal self continually creates new needs and wants at an annoyingly regular rate. I know the answer to that root cause problem, but I’ll defer that meditation for another time (literally and figuratively). 

So, what’s on my Top 3 list? What the key things that if I ticked off or progressed, would make my life feel a little less stressful? Be prepared to be underwhelmed.

Yesterday my Top 3 anxieties / goals were: 

1. ⭐ Place the Amazon order
2. Run start-up founder customer interview #2
3. Get 12,000 steps

I knew what I needed to get done to feel content with myself. I can’t solve world peace in a day, but I take care of the things that will bring me a peace I can share with those around me in hopes that they too find theirs and pay it forward. 

Your list doesn’t need to be grand or aspirational; seek easy wins with maximum impact. Even then, I had to lace up my shoes and throw on a coat for an 11:07 PM walk down the lane to tick off number three, but I felt better knowing I had done what I set out to do. 

While walking for mental and physical health is one thing, what was so important about placing an online shopping order? 

Nothing. And everything. 

I deliberately put the Amazon purchase right at the tippy-top of my Top 3 anxieties, accompanied by a prominent ⭐ star to tell myself that I absolutely, positively must make that happen. There was nothing critical in my cart; no pacemaker monitors or oops-I-forgot-your-birthday gifts. However, four days in a row I had set a calendar reminder to find and purchase a few specific items and for four days in a row I had dismissed them—sound familiar? 

Enough was enough. 

I was so tired of seeing the notifications on my lockscreen, so tired of rescheduling them, so tired of doing seemingly everything else aside from attending to this unfinished business. It needed to be at the top of the list so that today I could wake up and smile knowing that, Ha!, I had done it! No more wondering when I’ll “get time” to do it! My new notebooks, ink, and other things would soon be on the way. The next steps were in someone else’s hands now (*or a warehouse robot’s claw; I hope Amazon is finally giving them toilet breaks). 

I’ve got 99 problems, but that task ain’t one (any longer)

Simplicity was the key. Reduced dependencies and simpler choices: Place Amazon order today. 

No negotiation. No rescheduling to tomorrow. This was the No. 1 Priority for my Tuesday. By the afternoon I felt free to tackle my work, pick up a book, or move onto the other urgent and importants things occupying my mind. Sometimes all it takes is 25 minutes and a credit card; most often it only takes 2. 

Break your Top 3 things down into what is achievable in that time. If it’s something longer, focus on just the next best step. That start-up customer interview on my task list was not critical in and of itself, but I knew that if all else failed, it’d be a guaranteed win on the board. Getting one done is better than none. 

Doing nothing is always an option, but doing something gets you places. 

Try Oliver’s insights on for size to break through the ‘importance trap’. Draft your Top 3 list before you do anything else. Put a guiding star next to the line that would make everything else seems easier once done. Define what success looks like to you with the resources, times, and energy at your disposal. “Still breathing” is a good one in a pinch. 

Let me know how it goes. I’ll be over here working on mine.

…which is getting this article published. If you want to know how many hours I have already spent writing and revising this piece, the answer is: too many. But once you are reading this, it is done. Tick!