A slave to your to-do list?  Is it all feeling too much?  Feeling useless, drowning in work?

To-do lists are supposed to help us right, but too often I discuss them in therapy when they have become the opposite, unhelpful and de-motivating.  Often causing feelings of pro-crastination and failure.  The reality therefore, and paradoxically, that the thing that was supposed to help us manage the overwhelming number of tasks has become really unhelpful, something we dread and now counter productive!

My suggestions for ensuring your to do list is helpful and provides you with positive thoughts, feelings and actions are;

1. Have a maximum of 5-7 actions on your list at any one time
2. Start with the most overwhelming tasks first
3. Work on the actions at the times of day you are most productive, this can often be the mornings
4. Take breaks and reward yourself for completing any task
5. Approach your to do list with the mindset that 'however many of the tasks I achieve, however much I do today is positive'
6. List what you achieved at the end of the day, see what you did not what you didn't do
7. Remove tasks not completed and log them elsewhere
8. Dispose of the list celebrating the feelings of working on it/completing it

A to-do list is there to help you focus, remember and organise your priorities.  It is not something that defines your self-worth, self-esteem and character.  Talk to your employer, loved one, manager, GP or a therapist if you are feeling overloaded with your workloads and burned out.  High workloads and unrealistic expectations are not your fault but they are all too common.  Find the confidence to address them so corrective actions can be taken.