The Dreaded To Do List

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My To Do List habit is something that I have carried over from diligence in the workplace. I'd like to be able to describe it as a thing of beauty but in reality it is on the one hand the bane of my life, on the other potentially the only item on which I can rely to maintain order.

I keep it in a specifically designed app that is available on all my devices as both a standalone schedule and also a daily precursor to calendar entries. Essentially there is no hiding from it. Some days it is a monster with a controlling claw, on others a tawdry specimen that can easily be ignored. There are chores that repeat, reminders for bill payments and other deadlines, nudges for seasonal tasks in the garden and so the list goes on.

There are some days when I wonder  if the time I expend reallocating dates for jobs on the list could perhaps have been more usefully  deployed tackling those items. On other occasions, I sail through the list, ticking off every item for the day and reaching the twilight hours with a deep sense of achievement.

The trouble with a To Do List, however, is generally two-fold. Firstly it can drag you down and overwhelm; it is after all never-ending. Secondly, it can get in the way of living. It is meant to be a tool, a useful assistant for navigating the furrows of life, but how easy it is to permit it to dominate and takeover. 

Postponing spontaneity, declining an invitation, putting off what we enjoy just to complete the mundane and repetitive is definitely not the way to operate. It might be an appropriate way to conduct oneself in the 9 to 5 world, but in retirement I want to be liberated of the run of the mill, duplication of tedious undertakings and certainly don't wish to give them priority. However, simply walking away, forgetting about them and distracting yourself with the purely pleasurable facets of retirement life doesn't get the tax return completed, food in the fridge or the linen laundered. You can walk out, shut the door but let's face it the moment you return everything is still waiting and may even have acquired a degree of urgency.

Is there a solution? I've started to allocate specific days  for niggling items and if I'm waylaid and don't get to them then, unless they are urgent, they wait until that allocated day of drudgery comes round again. Moreover, and at the risk of extending my list into the next decade, I'm seriously limiting how much I plan to tackle on a given day. 

Does it work and lead to feelings of fulfilment?  Probably not. It's still a spectre in the shadows, a petty frustration that lingers over you as you devote your energy elsewhere.

Is there an alternative? What about the nuclear option of simply deleting the darned directory of  drudge? I am tempted, so very. very tempted! 

(Image by Jan from Pixabay) 

 

 

 

Comments

Treaders said…
I'm very much like you in that if it ain't on the list it won't get done and I guess as we get older those lists might indeed be a blessing. However I'm still very much into paper (and scraps of paper at that). I use an A4 annual diary that I always have in full view and everything goes into that, and then I write daily to do lists on scraps of paper - quite literally - next to my computer. I finally got round to putting appointments into my phone also but the satisfaction I get from throwing that scrap of paper away pretty much every day is great. Little things please little minds, I guess, but I am VERY organized nevertheless!
29 October 2025 at 08:04
Caree Risover said…
I had considered switching back to a paper system but you haven’t sold it to me (although maybe I need a back up?). Is it all just a case of being too organised?
29 October 2025 at 09:56
Treaders said…
Well when my phone disappeared (ie I left it in another car for 24 hours) I was totally lost. Actually I'm in the process of copying all my phone numbers/email addresses/passwords etc. into a simple Word document because I realized just how lost I was without my phone AND my computer is currently on the blink (new one ordered)!
30 October 2025 at 08:37
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