Posted on 12 October 2012

I’ve written before about my struggle with things I should do but don’t have a particular urgency or deadline. Things like routine check-ups at the dentist or organizing the spice drawer. Every few days you think “I really should get to that at some point…” and then you forget about it, until a few days later. They’re presence isn’t necessarily causing a major problem in your life, but they are a regular annoyance that just keeps coming back and back and back.
Recently, I came up with a new and not-at-all ground-breaking strategy to deal with these things. I made a big list of every one of these niggling items and I challenge myself to cross off one every day. These are not regular chores like cooking or sweeping or brushing my teeth. They are things like “change that light bulb in the entrance” and “get that one pair of dress pants dry-cleaned” or even just “email those photos to my aunt”.
And it’s been transformative. Not in an amazing, life-changing way but in the same subtle way that those little task pile up and drag you down. Every item that gets crossed off removes one little burden from my mental space. Every day I get to think “now I don’t have to worry about that again.” And then when those other things that haven’t been done start springing up in my mind they don’t bother me because I know each one of them will be dealt with, not someday, but soon.
Note: this also helps
 

Filed under: Best Of, misc, personal