Your Want To Do List

HOW TO CONVERT A TO-DO LIST, TO A WANT TO DO LISTS

I don’t like “Have To’s”. I LOVE “Want To’s”. The fewer have to’s, and the more wan -to’s I have in a day, the happier I am. The happier I am, the more energy I have, so upping my want to’s appears to be a good thing for my life.

Here is a technique that works well for me.

I am assuming that you write To-Do lists. Let’s say you have a list of 20 items that need to be done in the next week. A few of these items are essential, and have to be done by a certain time, whether you feel like doing them or not. These are usually things like paying bills, buying food, and going to work. My advice is to just do them, assume they won’t be fun, and be rid of them. This article is really about the non time-critical items that remain.

Now, you could approach your list by using logic and discipline, going down line by line, and making yourself complete every item until you reach the bottom… Yuk.

Here’s another approach.

I find that what my brain considers fun, changes from day to day. I’m either in the mood to do something, or I am not. So I take my list of, let’s say 17 tasks, and read through it. On any given day, 2 or 3 of the tasks will “feel” doable, they may look interesting, or occasionally fun. They call out to me, I think, “Oh, I can do that, no problem”. Those items then become my to-do list for the day. So I do them, and I either don’t mind completing them, or it’s even kind of fun. At the end of the day, I cross those items off of my list.

The next day I read through my list again. Even though my first choice items are gone, I find that another 2-3 feel interesting to me today. They then become my to-do list for that day.

This is repeated each day until, guess what? My master list is completed. Now, are there items left that never felt doable?. Sometimes, but often not. By giving myself the freedom to choose what appeals to me each day, I often get through my entire list without having to force myself to do anything.

Allowing my ‘heart/gut’ to choose which tasks get done each day, creates a better outcome than giving my intellect the job.

Have to’s are converted to want to’s , everything is done, and I feel great.