Coaching practices for My to Do List Has Everything I Could Ever Conceivably Do Crammed Onto it So There's No Honest Line Between Someday Maybe and What I'm Actually Committing to Today and I Just Stare at it Overwhelmed
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For My to Do List Has Everything I Could Ever Conceivably Do Crammed Onto it So There's No Honest Line Between Someday Maybe and What I'm Actually Committing to Today and I Just Stare at it Overwhelmed, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- My to-do list has everything I could ever conceivably do crammed onto it, so there’s no honest line between someday-maybe and what I’m actually committing to today
- My someday list has quietly become a dumping ground for stuff I’m just avoiding doing this week
- There’s never a point where I get to say I’m done
- I keep a to-do list a mile long but it never tells me when anything happens, so every task feels equally postponable
- My list throws "try that recipe this month" in with "write a memoir before I die" as if they’re the same size
Practices that may help
- Separate "will-do" from "to-do" lists
Keep a master to-do list distinct from the closed daily "will-do" list that you actually commit to.
Do It Tomorrow, Made Practical - Protect the someday list from contamination by current work
The someday list loses its value if it fills up with current tasks that belong in your active project system.
The Someday List - Work from a closed daily list
Write today’s task list before the day begins, then refuse to add new items to it.
Do It Tomorrow, Made Practical - Calendar time blocking
Give every task a specific start and end time on your calendar.
Time Blocking, Made Practical - Give someday items a time horizon to distinguish near and far
Not all someday items are equal — some are waiting for next month, others for retirement.
The Someday List - Only put tasks on the board that you’ve explicitly decided to do
Your Kanban board is not a wish list — only tasks you have consciously committed to belong in To Do.
Personal Kanban, Made Practical - Time-box tasks instead of scheduling by list
Assign each task a fixed time block on the calendar rather than a position on an open-ended to-do list.
Parkinson's Law, Made Practical - Categorize list items by time horizon
Sort items into near (this year), medium (this decade), and distant — then schedule the near-term ones immediately.
The Bucket List Method - The ABCDE prioritization method
Label every task A (must), B (should), C (nice), D (delegate), or E (eliminate) before starting.
Eat That Frog, Made Practical - Systematically process the backlog
Work through old, unfinished tasks in order rather than perpetually re-triaging them.
Do It Tomorrow, Made Practical
Related concerns
- When Getting Results The Agile Way Scenarios Vs Task Lists
Keep a master to-do list distinct from the closed daily "will-do" list that you actually commit to.
Separate "will-do" from "to-do" lists
- When Parkinsons Law Time Boxing Tasks
Assign each task a fixed time block on the calendar rather than a position on an open-ended to-do list.
Time-box tasks instead of scheduling by list
- When Time Blocking Calendar Time Blocking
Give every task a specific start and end time on your calendar.
Calendar time blocking
- Bounded Task List
Assign each task a fixed time block on the calendar rather than a position on an open-ended to-do list.
- How To Make A Realistic To Do List
Keep a master to-do list distinct from the closed daily "will-do" list that you actually commit to.
- Idea Parking Lot Vs Task List
Assign each task a fixed time block on the calendar rather than a position on an open-ended to-do list.
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