Member-only story
The Dark Side of To Do Lists
Why To Do Lists Are Detrimental to My Mental Health
On Monday, I wrote out a to do list with ten items on it. All are important. Some are urgent. Now, two days later, and I have only been able to mark one item off my list. Just looking at the list make my blood pressure spike.
All the perky articles I have read praising the benefits of making a to do list never mention the darker side. The to do list becomes this tyrant that pushes me to do just one more thing so I can mark it off my list. It’s a trap.
Several of the items on my list have been on it for a long, long time. There are many other tasks that are not even on my to do list because I don’t need a list to remember that I need to do them. As usual, I am trying to do too many things and all my list items are associated with my work, family, or the everyday necessities of life. Like anyone else, I usually feel elated when I can cross something off the list.
The fact that I have a To Do List may make it appear that I am an organized person who accomplishes much. This is a false impression. I am definitely not organized, and I am easily distracted from completing tasks I don’t want to do in the first place. In addition to my own personal resistance to doing the things on my list, I am constantly distracted by family, my desire to spend some time with or talking to…
