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Cringe-Busting your TODO list

Submitted by Merlin on May 23, 2005 - 4:58am.

As I’ve said before, items can sometimes linger on your TODO list a lot longer than you’d like, and it can be tricky to understand exactly why that is in each case. I’m convinced cringing is often a factor.

Being that it’s Monday, and a lot of us are planning this week’s activities, why not join me in a modest exercise.

  1. Print out your TODO list (alphabetically, if possible)
  2. Read it over—beginning to end
  3. Go back and circle each item that makes you cringe, or that causes you some kind of existential angst
  4. Per cringe item, think honestly about why you’re freaked out about it. Seriously. What’s the hang-up? (Fear of failure? Dreading bad news? Angry you’re already way overdue?)
  5. Now, again, per cringe item, add a new TODO that will a) make the loathsome task less cringe-worthy, or b) just get the damned thing done
  6. Cross the original cringe items off your list
  7. Work immediately on the new, cringe-busting TODO

If you could do this for just one item on your TODO list today, wouldn’t you be a little better off? Is there a quick call you could make, a draft you could edit, an email you could return, or some other piddling 2-minute task that would plane some cringe off of your hated tasks?

Imagine if you did this today for five items on your list. Now imagine you began each Monday with a Cringe Bust. Might be a handy way to pick off old items and let some unnecessary anxiety out of your working week.

(For extra credit, find the item on your list that’s been making you cringe for the longest. Anybody else turning up items that have been inducing cringes for over a month? Ouch. I suck.)

in

I have one...a major project,...

Submitted by Crystal (not verified) on May 23, 2005 - 5:58am.

I have one…a major project, that’s been sitting like a monkey on my back for over 6 months now. The longer it goes, the more I cringe. And its ridiculous, really, but every time I go near doing it, even the little next action, I just freeze up and turn off. The worst part about it is that I really like doing it…but now that I am thinking about it, perhaps I’m frozen on it because there is another task that isn’t nearly so urgent that is still dependent on it–and that’s the one that really frightens me. Silly silly all of it–because if I just did both tasks, they would and I would succeed. And I suppose therein lies the fear. Amazing how neurotic the human mind can become…being afraid of success, jeesh.

Thanks for the great reminder. I think I need to make an entire week a CRINGE week. ;-)