You swear on to-do lists? Let it! Here's why
Everybody knows them, everybody has done them before, ticked them off and crossed them off and left them eternal forever: to-do lists. Some swear by it - after all, it does a great job to finally get it off the mark.
However, what happens to us as long as these things are not choppy? How does it affect us to keep a list of unfinished things in mind? Right: Not good! To be more precise: stressful!
At least that's what Leo Babauta, the author and life-giver, says (his original blog made it into Top Magazine's top 25 blogs twice, here in German), referring to the lists that make up our life plans, such as make a world tour, build a house or climb the career ladder.
Here are 3 legitimate reasons not to have a to-do list :
1. It's an extra burden to take on: the whole time the thought: "I have to get my to-do list done!"
2. If you do not make things on the list, you feel bad, somehow guilty and just not done - that definitely does not make you happy.
3. Some things on the list are of minor importance or are only on the list because they sound cool (eg "learn to surf" - let's face it: when will we get to that?).
If these three things are true, Babauta asks, why do not we just let that list go? Most things ("travel to the Amazon rainforest") are just ideas that came up at some point, but do not bring us further in life.
"Life is not a to-do list, " writes Babauta. What really matters is this here and now and what we can actually do right now. Babauta advocates an anti-to-do list. It should be shorter and contain only what really means a lot, be it paying more attention to the family or having a hobby that makes sense of one's life.
And what if you do not know what is most important to yourself? Babauta: "Is it more useful to find that out instead of keeping a to-do list ?" There may be something to it ...
