Merlin - great advice. I just gave essentially the same pep talk to a group of young executives in a leadership program I spoke to about improving productivity and reducing toxicity in the workplace. I suggested they filter on the “Cringe Factor” and commit to making at least one thing they dreaded doing go away each day.

I promised them that in a week they would feel much better about their To Do list. I’ve had a raft of e-mails from attendees thanking me and telling me their stress level has gone way down as a result of breaking these terrible tasks down to their true next action.