I’ve been doing to-do lists for a long time. Every single morning, I wake up and write down exactly what I want to accomplish by the end of the day.
As I crossed things off that list, I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. Crossing things of my goal list is extremely gratifying.
In my opinion, to-do lists are amazing. They give you an outline of the day. They allow you to complete your goals and promote generating/implementing a routine.
They’re built for people that use the common excuse; “I don’t have time,” which, I’ve discovered, is quite a large number of the population.
Outline Your Day
Wake up every morning and write down exactly what you want to accomplish by the end of the day. Keep it short and concise.
Long lists prevent you from completing them, which knocks you down a peg at the end of the day. Make you sure you keep it small.
Have a set of constant goals that you must achieve (more on this later). For me, it’s daily affirmations, learning Spanish, and going to the gym. These are my constant goals to attain each day.
Make Time
For all intensive purposes, I consider myself a busy person. I blog, make videos; attend school and work, and constant learn (or read) something, which sucks up most of my time.
“How do you have time?”
The answer is quite simple. I make time. This is something magical about the to-do list. Having those goals on my to-do almost force me to make time. I know the feeling of not completing that list.
I work to avoid that feeling! I don’t have any extra divine time. I just make sure I fit it in. The to-do list encourages me to complete everything.
Build a Habit
To-do lists help build a routine. As mentioned, I have certain things that stay constant. Gym was always a constant habit, which I internalized early on.
However, affirmations and Spanish was something that never came easy. I constantly forgot to complete them or decided to avoid it for just one day.
Here’s where the list came in. Including those things on my list gave me extra motivation to complete it. I couldn’t allow myself to sleep without completing my list, even though it included a difficult Spanish lesson and time-consuming affirmations.
Now, those things are a constant event on my list, but I don’t need them to be. I’ve built the habit. I know, even without including them on the list, that I have to complete them before the days’ end.
Now, including those goals are formalities. Use your to-do list to build and internalize new habits.
“To-Don’t” List
I used to have a terrible nail-biting habit. My earliest memories included my fingers in constant pain and bleeding. I can’t place any early memories before nail biting.
I’ve pretty much done it my entire life. This was a hard habit to break.
How did I do it?
To-Don’t lists to the rescue. I started my day by writing “Today, I will not bite my nails.” And every night that I didn’t bite, I crossed it off.
Boom. Instant gratification.
The problem with people and bad habits is that they visualize the distant future. They see one week or month into the future and breaking the habit seems almost impossible.
Not biting my nails for a FULL week? Not drinking for a FULL week? Not smoking for a FULL week? That seems torturous.
Instead, focus only on today. Today is the only day that matters. Get through today. And then, tomorrow, get through that today. Time doesn’t exist outside of today. Time is just a series of todays.
Similar to the to-do lists, not being able to cross it off at the end of the day, felt terrible. My decision always includes gratification and today I will achieve it.
Be bold, be free, and love on.
Awesome advice!
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Thank you muchly 🙂
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The to-don’t list is a great idea that I intend to give an immediate try-out. I shall have to let you know how that goes. Have a great day.
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Good one! I’ve made “to do” lists for years but they tend to have developed into the never ending kind that to expand as much as they contract, so your reminder “you’re meant to make one each day!” (so you get the gratification!!!) was a great reminder. (I’d better add the “don’t do” don’t obsess about saving paper! lol!)
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In case I forgot to mention it, thanks for following Humorous Interludes. 🙂
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The nail-biting to-don’t list is interesting, though I fear you may be beating yourself up on a faultless issue. Some years ago, my sister suggested I might have low thyroid. She told me to try taking supplemental iodine. I did it to shut her up. Lo and behold, I felt much better. Mysteriously, my lifelong habit of nail-biting disappeared! I told her so and she confided that the same thing had happened to her. So, while I heartily commend you for using will-power to stop a habit that was causing you pain….what if it’s really about body chemistry? Then, will-power is even more amazing–but not if you’ve been beating yourself up all your life about a mineral deficiency.
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I appreciate the concern very much! But I’ve had the nail biting issue for as long as I could remember. It originally popped up due to anxiety and minor depression phases in my life. But after I started to address my problem for what it was, it was easy to slowly ween away from it.
HOWEVER, I do love your advice and recommendations! Please, I hope you continue to be a member of our little community here.
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Reblogged this on Transition Chick's Blog.
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Oh my….every time I made a list, I lost it before I could use it.
So, I gave up and now I just “wing it.”
My organization consist of being disorganized, and I usually get where I am going, eventually. 🙂
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Honestly, I like the to-do method! But in the end, you have to do what works for you and what’s most effective for you!
I’m glad it’s working! 🙂
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Love this. I know the exact feeling of needing to complete that list before going to bed. It forces me to push past that natural reluctance/ procrastination. Thanks for this article.
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No problem! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
That feeling of being pushed is exactly why I continue to do those lists. Not only does it help structure my day, but it also forces me, through ‘small wins,’ to try and endlessly succeed!
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