{"id":2619,"date":"2025-06-06T18:25:23","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T18:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/?p=2619"},"modified":"2025-08-21T19:48:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T19:48:15","slug":"the-to-do-list-master","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/2025\/06\/06\/the-to-do-list-master\/","title":{"rendered":"The To Do List Master"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"schedule_builder_vs_todo_list-980x431(1).png\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Imagine you bought a new phone, but at the end of each day, everyday, the operating system crashed. Would you keep using the faulty phone? Of course not. You\u2019d take it back to the store, complain, and get a new one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, many people run their entire lives on a faulty operating system. It\u2019s called the to-do list. Have you ever met someone who runs their day using a to-do list and actually finishes everything they said they\u2019d do? Me neither.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To-do list devotees keep a running register of all the things they promise to get done, but at the end of the day, they\u2019re surprised to find the list of uncompleted tasks has gotten longer, not shorter. The next day, they repeat the Sisyphean practice. Their days, months, and sometimes entire careers are spent in a harried blur of never getting enough done, even though they\u2019re using a technique that\u2019s supposed to make them more productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time to shed the constant stress and toxic guilt of not checking off enough little boxes and finally understanding why running your life with a to-do list is like running your life on Windows 95.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, you\u2019ll find that using a schedule builder<\/a> to make a weekly timeboxed calendar instead of relying on a to-do list is the right way to go, but before we get into that, let\u2019s discuss what\u2019s wrong with to-do lists:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. To-Do Lists Perpetuate Harmful Self-Stereotypes<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. To-Do Lists Lead to Distraction<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. To-Do Lists Destroy the Fun in Life<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. The Best To-Do List is One you Make with a Schedule Builder<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Don\u2019t get me wrong\u2014time management practices, like any tool, aren\u2019t inherently harmful or helpful; it comes down to how they\u2019re used. A hammer can be used to build a house or bash someone\u2019s head. When it comes to using to-do lists, getting tasks onto a piece of paper, or into an app, is a very good thing. I do this all the time. No problem there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What I argue against is the way many people run their lives with a to-do list, as I did for decades. Every morning, when I\u2019d start my work day, the first place I\u2019d look was my to-do list. I\u2019d start checking off boxes, unaware that I was using the tool all wrong. It\u2019s a broken operating system, and I\u2019m glad I\u2019ve updated it. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    To-Do Lists Perpetuate Harmful Self-Stereotypes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Ever notice how much easier it is to add things to your to-do list than to actually do them? With no constraints, we just fill up our to-do lists with even more things we\u2019ll never finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Back when I was letting to-do lists run my day, I\u2019d blame myself<\/em> for not finishing tasks. I used to think there must be something wrong with me, or with my inability to follow through. I didn\u2019t realize this negative self-talk reinforced a kind of stereotype that made me less likely to accomplish my goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As I described in my book Indistractable<\/a><\/em>, several studies have found that behavior change requires identity change<\/em>. That is, long-term adherence to a new set of actions necessitates seeing ourselves differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    If you want to get in shape, you can\u2019t give up one month after setting a New Year\u2019s resolution. You must see yourself as an athlete, so you can commit to exercising for the rest of your life. If you want to effect social change, don\u2019t just vote; be a voter<\/a>. If you want to stop procrastinating and you find yourself frequently distracted, don\u2019t make promises to yourself you\u2019ll later break; be indistractable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The difference may seem minor, but several studies<\/a> have shown we tend to conform to our self-image; identity precedes behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What kind of identity does an ever-incomplete to-do list reinforce? Though there haven\u2019t been direct studies, one can infer from existing research that it isn\u2019t a positive one. Having a constant reminder that you didn\u2019t do what you said you\u2019d do cements a self-stereotype. We begin to see ourselves differently. Day after day, week after week, year after year, the fact that we don\u2019t do as we say takes a toll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Eventually, we begrudgingly accept not following through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI\u2019ll finish it tomorrow,\u201d we tell ourselves. \u201cWhat\u2019s one more day?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We repeat this cycle until eventually, and subconsciously, the narrative begins to change from what we do to who we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI\u2019m not good with deadlines,\u201d we say. \u201cI must have a short attention span.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Faced with the constant dissonance between what we\u2019ve promised to do and what we actually accomplish, we begin to see ourselves as the problem. We stop asking whether our time management system is no good and start to believe, \u201cMaybe I am no good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We buy into a self-fulfilling prophecy. This happened to me: I allowed myself to believe I was the kind of person who was \u201ceasily distracted,\u201d and I therefore became increasingly distractible. I started telling myself I was \u201cbad at managing my time\u201d and began acting accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Unfortunately, when we look around and see the endless to-do list apps and productivity \u201clife hacks\u201d telling us to just write things down to get things done, it\u2019s no wonder we think we are the problem. But it\u2019s not you or me that\u2019s \u201cbroken.\u201d Rather, it\u2019s the to-do list methodology that\u2019s screwed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    To-Do Lists Lead to Distraction?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    To-do lists are supposed to keep us on task. They don\u2019t. Rather, running your life using a to-do list leads to more distraction, not less. To understand why, it\u2019s important to understand what \u201cdistraction\u201d is\u2014really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A distraction is any action that pulls us away from what we intend to do. The opposite of distraction is not \u201cfocus.\u201d It\u2019s \u201ctraction.\u201d Both words come from the same Latin root trahere<\/em><\/a>, which means \u201cto pull.\u201d Both words also end with the same six-letter word, \u201caction,\u201d reminding us that both \u201ctraction\u201d and \u201cdis-traction\u201d are actions we decide to take, not things that randomly happen to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Source: Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Understanding the distinction between traction and distraction is critical. By this definition, we cannot call something a distraction unless we know what it is distracting us from<\/em>. Therefore, we can\u2019t say we got distracted unless we have defined, in advance, what is traction for us at that moment in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Whether something is a distraction or traction has little to do with the activity itself. Rather, it is forethought that differentiates the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Playing video games or watching television can be an act of traction if that\u2019s what you planned to do with your time. Conversely, working on a task most people would laud as \u201cproductive\u201d can be a horrible distraction if it is not what you committed to doing with your time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When I used a to-do list to run my day, I\u2019d start the morning ticking off tasks, thinking I was on point. I didn\u2019t realize I was letting my to-do list lead me towards distractions that were preventing me from reaching my goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For instance, even when I knew I had a big project looming and needed to spend the morning working on it to meet my deadline, glancing at my to-do list gave me permission to escape into doing something (anything) else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Oh! My to-do list says it\u2019s time to rearrange my desktop icons into color-coded, alphabetized folders!? OK! I guess I\u2019ll do that real quick before I start writing that report I\u2019ve been putting off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When that\u2019s done, I probably still won\u2019t feel like doing the hard work of focusing on that report, so I\u2019m going to reconstruct my to-do list so I know exactly what has to get done for the next six years of my life. Then I\u2019ll get back to writing that report!\u2026or maybe I won\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    To-do lists allow us to get distracted by the easy or urgent tasks at the expense of the important work. We get pulled off track by the most pernicious form of distraction\u2014the kind we succumb to without realizing it\u2019s happening. We run faster and faster in the name of getting things done, without realizing we\u2019re headed in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When we realize we didn\u2019t allocate the necessary time to work on the most important tasks, we justify it by telling ourselves, \u201cthere isn\u2019t enough time left anyway,\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m not in the mood,\u201d and with a few clicks, we make the hard work disappear by pushing it off to the next day or the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI\u2019ll definitely get to it tomorrow,\u201d we tell ourselves. But of course, with the rotten to-do list system unchanged, we repeat the same hopeless steps the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Not until the deadline looms over us do we realize we could have done better work and would have avoided this crushing stress, if only we\u2019d dedicated ourselves to the important project when we said we would. Instead, we allowed the to-do list to distract us with frivolous tasks that gave us the deceptive feeling of being productive when we didn\u2019t feel like doing what we said we would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    To-Do Lists Destroy the Fun in Life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Finally, and perhaps most annoyingly, there\u2019s what to-do lists do to our leisure time. I call this phenomenon the \u201ctyranny of the to-do list.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A tyrant is a \u201ccruel and oppressive ruler.\u201d Tyrants make subjects do things against their will and strike fear into people\u2019s hearts. Okay, maybe I\u2019m exaggerating for dramatic effect\u2014no one was beheaded for defying their to-do list. However, to-do lists make us lose our heads in other ways. Namely, they occupy our minds like a hostile army, stressing us out and sapping enjoyment from life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Before I staged a coup d\u2019etat against my to-do list, I used to let my unfinished tasks invade my thoughts and leisure time. I\u2019d sit down for a pleasant dinner with my family, only to start thinking about all the things left undone on my to-do list. Later, when I\u2019d play with my daughter, the unchecked boxes tormented me and sometimes kept me up at night worrying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    A 2020 study<\/a> found that intrusive thought, including thinking about what we \u201cshould\u201d be doing, can kill the enjoyment of life\u2019s most important pleasures. The tyranny of the to-do list comes not only from its power to waste our time while working, but also its ability to take over our minds while we\u2019re trying to actually have a life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Time studies<\/a> show Americans far underestimate how much leisure time they have. Both mothers and fathers in several Western nations spend significantly more time<\/a> with their children than previous generations. Yet, even though Americans have time to watch on average nearly five hours of television every day<\/a>, they report feeling busier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We spend tons of time \u201crelaxing,\u201d and yet, ironically, we feel less relaxed, even when we take a break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My hunch is that few working professionals today, especially high performers, even remember what leisure time is supposed to feel like. They\u2019ve simply forgotten how wonderful it feels to have the peace of mind of spending time solely focused on their children or taking a walk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Imagine you bought a new phone, but at the end of each day, everyday, the operating system crashed. Would you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/mr-bean-waiting.gif","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2621,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2619\/revisions\/2621"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}