Seize the Diem

April 13

To-Do Lists get a bad rap.

We just misunderstand them. We think the serotonin, the joy, the all-magical spark of “self care” comes from crossing items off the list. So we invent strategies.

We always start our to-do list with the biggest task, to get it out of the way. Or we always start the list with our smallest task, to snowball into the bigger stuff. The true mavericks of the space start the list with something they’ve already done, so they can start their day crossing something off, creating an impossible sense of momentum.

Of course, our to-do lists are rarely completed. They’re kicked over to the curb instead, passed by to tomorrow, when, instead of picking up the list, we make a new.

Maybe the real purpose of the to-do list is to put everything into one place, out of our brain, creating 2-3 feet of distance between us the chaos we’ve made of our lives?

It’s forever interesting that we find ourselves, at the end of the day, in disgust of what we thought we would do at the beginning of the day.

Maybe we make the lists, not to finish them, but to stop the chaos?

To save ourselves from a singular second of not knowing what we should do next?

Even if we don’t…

Morning Reading is a daily email to help center yourself, reflect, and prepare for the day. It’s sent with love from your friend, Zach in Austin, Texas. He even drew the logo himself.

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