The truth about TO-DO lists is that you can’t complete them.

 

Why can you not complete those lists?

Does this fact render them entirely useless?

Let’s enquire.

 

On the basic level – you make a TO-DO list in order to… KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TO DO.

Nothing fancy.

You make a list of things to do — then you do those things.

Basically – you make a TO-DO list in order to not forget what you were to do.

Sounds very simple.

Almost stupid.

 

It’s not stupid.

Many tasks comprise many steps.

Imagine building a LEGO model.

Many tasks are like assembling a lego model. You put together pieces, which work as a whole.

It is not only not stupid — it is necessary to adhere to the instructions.

Many tasks comprise of many steps and we can encapsulate these steps in to-do lists.

THIS is the basic logic behind the to-do lists. It is meaningful.

 

The problem with TO-DO lists starts on a psychological level.

Alike knowledge – TO-DO list is a TOOL.

Alike mind — TO-DO list is a tool.

You use the tool.

You don’t let the tool use you.

 

You are not there to submit before some to-do list.

You use to-do lists for your own purposes.

Your purpose is NOT fulfilling some stupid list.

It’s the list’s purpose to help you fulfil your goals.

 

What does it mean to use to-do lists on a psychological level?

It means that you begun using the list as means of self-extension.

It has became means of psychological comfort.

It provided you the comfort of having an organized structure to (mindlessly) adhere to.

It also provided you with an illusion of productivity, which gives you confidence and security, in the face of this uncertain life, and this fierce world.

It’s the same mechanism with most things and this is how an otherwise useful tool becomes corrupted, as means of psychological expansion.

Now you will create those ridiculous new years resolutions and lengthy to-do lists, just to make yourself feel better.

No wonder you can’t complete them. They are never realistic. They don’t even lead nowhere. They are just completely meaningless.

 

…and the same goes to ALL PLANS.

Are you realizing an actual, PRACTICAL PLAN… or are you indulging in CONCEIVING PSYCHOLOGICAL PLANS, PSYCHOLOGICAL NARRATIVES, in which you find comfort, in which you seek self-extension.

 

Let go of all that nonsense,

there is no psychological becoming,

no achievement,

no path,

use to-do lists and plans like instructions,

with no attachment to the result – yet coolest adherence to the reality of things.

Understand the “A” that needs to be done to get “B”.

But never identify with “A”.

You are not “A”. Not “B”. None of that.

PLANS and TO-DO lists are TOOLS. Keep it that way.