Overwhelmed By Your To-Do List? Try This Reframe

Do you get overwhelmed by a long to-do list? Same. In fact, I can get so overwhelmed that I completely shut down, do nothing, and end up feeling bad and anxious about my lack of progress until I force myself to take action.

The struggle of a long to-do list

Instead of putting myself through that self-inflicted drama cycle over and over, I make a very simple change to my to-do lists.

I, like you, often find myself with a list of tasks to complete that’s about a year long. I’m the kind of person who gets a lot of stuff done, and somehow that means I end up with even more stuff to do. You know, because I’m the person you go to if you want something done.

At the very least, I need a vague structure to my day. I’m not a “take messy action” kind of gal, in fact, I get hives when people ask me to take messy action. I need to have some idea of what’s going to happen and how.

I’m a list person. The downside of being both someone with too many tasks to complete, and someone who enjoys a good list, is that said list can often get extremely long and, therefore, overwhelming.

Seeing all the tasks to complete stops being motivating when the list is so long it gives you anxiety.

Research shows that we humans love options. Options give us the illusion of choice. Sometimes we legitimately do have a choice, but other times it’s simply reframing it to sound like you have options to choose from that make all the difference.

So, here is what I do with my to-do lists if they’re overwhelmingly long.

The power of a simple change: the can-do list

Instead of a to-do list, I have a can-do list.

This is a simple reframe, but for me, it changes everything. “To do” implies I *have* to do it, which puts me in an annoyed mood from the get-go. I feel pressured by it, like if I don’t get enough done, I’ll have failed - even if I did a great job and got lots done.

Can do, however, is much more my jam. Even if nothing else about the list changes, I’m more positive when I feel like I have options to choose from. Instead of having to do it, I can do it.

Another minor change I make to my list when creating a ‘can-do list’ instead of a ‘to-do list’ is that I make sure to include some tasks that I know I enjoy doing. These tasks aren’t necessarily “productive” in the traditional sense, but they are productive for me in that including them increases the likelihood of completing other tasks as well.

Enjoying the snowball effect

Finally, I leave my internalized capitalism at the door. There’s no judgment if I choose only one task from my list, no judgment if I choose none, and no judgment if I choose all.

The thing is, once I feel like the tasks are more optional, I end up getting a lot of them done. I start by picking one that I feel like I can do, that I have the energy for, and 99/100 times, it will snowball.

After completing the first task, I choose another, and another, and another. At the end of the day, I have completed more tasks than I would if I had a to-do list. And bonus, I enjoyed it more because I felt like it was my choice to do it.

This isn’t rocket science, and it won’t always work, but if you’re like me and can get overwhelmed by long to do-lists, I suggest you try a can do-list next time.

Please slide into our DMs over at Instagram (@cartogravie) and let us know how this worked out for you if you decide to give it a try!