How to manage a never ending ‘to do’ list.

Hope you’re well and have been busy, happily working away creating beautiful things.

Recently, I was talking to an artist friend who was telling me about how she had finally developed the habit of writing her ideas on post-its so she wouldn’t forget them. And shortly before that conversation I, after feeling like I had a million ideas in my head, had developed the habit of recording and categorising my ideas in word docs. Both of us felt relieved to not feel so overwhelmed and to be able to enjoy the benefits of being able to focus on something, knowing that if something else came up, we could record it and get to it later.

But here’s the problem... it didn’t take long to start feeling overwhelmed again as the new list of ideas kept growing.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a huge step in the right direction to have this recording ideas habit in place, but the assumption is that if you have a great idea… you need to complete it at some point.

And that’s where the problem lay… the surplus of ideas. Granted, a lot of people have trouble coming up with ideas and that’s a different problem for a different time, but I don’t. My artist friend doesn’t. Many creatives don’t. And, well… great! The issue however, lies in thinking they automatically all go on to a ‘to do’ list and the consequential pending sensation of trying to get to them, trying to complete an ever growing ‘to do’ list ensues.

So… that’s why I’ve started experimenting with a ‘reserve list’. A list of things to do, should I find myself in the lovely position of having nothing to do or struggling for ideas. And so far… it’s helping me immeasurably. What gets put on my ‘to do list’ is the stuff I can get done. That’s it. If I happen to finish early, I can refer to my reserve list or... just relax. 

Well, it’s early days but... so far so good. Like anything, it’s important to stick with it for a reasonable amount or time, observe and adjust where necessary. But for now, this is helping me... and I hope it can help you too!

Do let me know if you try it out or have a similar method that works  - I’d love to hear about it.

If you have any productivity or positive thinking challenges you’d like to share, I’d love to hear about them and will do my best to offer a solution. I’ve always applied productivity or positive thinking strategies to everything I do, and I think a lot of sweet simple moments of joy in my life have come as a consequence of that. I’d love to share the joy with any tips I can provide you!