What is on your “to do” list today? Some people are avid makers of “to do” lists, whereas others depend on keeping what they want to do in their heads. Regardless of your style, today I tell you, “Never make a ‘to do’ list again!”
How can I say this? Even I occasionally make lists of tasks for my day. I do not do this every day, because most often I depend on my appointment calendar and I just remember the other tasks I have for that day.
Still, when I have an unusual number of things that I want to do in a day, I find it useful to write them down in a list. It clears my head to write them down, so I don’t have to remember them. I can just refer to the list.
Still, long ago I stopped writing “to do” lists. How can I say this? I just told you that sometimes I write down tasks I have for the day.
Well, here is the distinction. At the top of my list, I do not write the words “To Do.” Instead, at the top of my list I write, “Possibilities for …” and add the day of the week and the date. For example, I might write:
“Possibilities for Saturday, October 24”
After years of thinking I can do more than I can do… After years of striving to do more than I actually get done in a day, I decided to change my perspective.
I decided to think of the things that I want to do in a day as possibilities. After all, we don’t know what a day will bring anyway, so why not think of the things that are on our so-called “to do” lists as possibilities?
This is a simple shift in perspective, yet I have found it profoundly meaningful. Putting “Possibilities” at the top of my list reminds me that I don’t have to do anything on my list. I am choosing to put these tasks down, and I will certainly work toward completing them. But I go to work out of choice. I do not go to work out of drivenness to accomplish the things.
Secondly, thinking of my tasks as possibilities helps me avoid being disappointed about tasks that don’t get done that day. Almost inevitably there will be some. But the unfinished tasks were just possibilities after all. So why get uptight about some of the possibilities not happening that day?
Finally, putting “Possibilities” at the top of my list helps me better acknowledge the things that I do accomplish. They get crossed off one by one, and by the end of the day I can see all the possibilities that came to pass. How wonderful!
So here’s my message: “Never make a ‘to do’ list again!” Instead, make a list of possibilities. See how your satisfaction with yourself and your life changes.
This is Glenn Stevenson with Self Sense Counseling and Coaching. Contact me, if you would like to turn some of your possibilities into realities, without stressing about having to do them!