I’m a list writer. I haven’t always written to-do lists, but about five years ago I started making them. Now, if I don’t make a list at the start of the day I don’t work nearly as efficiently as I should. My lists usually have a few blog post ideas for the day, the most pressing email, errands I need to run, my workout for the day, and tasks related to running my business. There is one new category that I have recently started adding to my to-do lists, “something fun.”
“Something fun” is actually what I put on my list. The fun thing of the day is what I put on my list. Some days that fun thing is “go skiing” other days it’s “go fishing” and today it was “tie flies.” My fun thing is never “check Facebook,” “check Twitter,” or “browse Amazon.”
Putting a fun activity on my to-do list, even if I can only do it for a short time, reminds me to take a break from the grind of work. When I get back to the work part of the list I have a bit more energy than before the “fun thing” was done. And having a fun thing on the to-do list means that I have an easy thing to cross off the list and it’s always satisfying to cross something off the list.
Life’s too short to not have fun things on our to-do lists. When you have fun things on your to-do list, the list of must-dos doesn’t feel quite so daunting or demoralizing.
What’s on Your List?
Do you write to-do lists? Do you put a fun thing on them? Try it, you might find that you actually get more done and have a better attitude about your to-do list.