Audio Transcript:
Should you number your To-Dos? On your daily page, you can see the faint number signs here after each To-Do check box. Those number signs are there to remind you to number your To-Dos in the order that you want to complete them.
But does that mean that you are supposed to number them? Sometimes. It depends.
Often after I plan, I’ll wind up with one clear main task to work on all morning, so there’s no absolutely no need to number my To-Dos.
But other days, there are a bunch of tasks, and they all seem equally important. (Generally speaking, setting priorities is tough for folks with ADHD.) Lack of clarity on what we’re supposed to do right now leads to us feeling confused and overwhelmed, which leads to procrastination.
On those days, taking a little time to number my To-Dos gives me a clear mission and really helps me to get started. Now then, I rarely bother to number all my To-Dos – maybe just the first two or three. This is because time blindness, difficulty estimating how long it’s going to take me to do something, is characteristic of ADHD. So I often don’t number all my tasks, unless it’s a series of smaller tasks that I’m sure I can do in a reasonable amount of time.
Once my tasks are numbered, then I am crystal clear on my mission, on what I have to do next, so I can get started.
For instance, this past Saturday, my wife was at work, so I tackled a bunch of mini household projects. I wrote them down on my Daily Page, and then I kept my In-View display stand visible in my usual weekend center of operations: the kitchen counter.
My To-Do list had things like this:
–write a grocery list for shopping later on
–prepare a big batch of healthy food ahead of time for my autistic son
–make jerky
–change the filter and water in our cold plunge
–charge the electric bike battery
–replace a shear bolt on my snowblower
–salt the driveway
–bring a desk up from the basement for my son
–empty the dishwasher
–Practice the flute
–fill out a medical form, with my wife’s help when she gets home. (This last one I put on my schedule.)
Most of these tasks don’t take all that long to do, but a list like that can be overwhelming. (Imagine if I was trying to juggle all that in my head instead of in writing!) I mean, where do I start? What exactly am I supposed to do right now? And what do I do next? Well, when I number my To-Dos, and check them off one at a time, I experience a liberating clarity from those simple decisions. I now have a clear mission; I know what to do right now, which energizes me. I can focus on doing just one thing at a time, and then experience the satisfaction of crossing that thing off the list. In my case, I’m always learning something new, so I’ll usually cue up something I’m interested in listening to on my phone, and then get right to work.
By the way, I suggest that you always take five minutes to plan your day, even when you’re working on a big project and the next step is lengthy and obvious. For example, some days it’s obvious that I just need to work more on the outline or script for a video. No need to plan, right?
Wrong! I suggest that you plan anyway.
First of all, you are reinforcing the planning habit, which is super important. If you blow off planning for five minutes, then that becomes the habit.
Also, #1 on your Daily Page To-Do list is Check Monthly Planner and Weekly To-Dos, so just five minutes of planning and reflection with the In-View system will keep you from forgetting that you have a dentist appointment today, or today is trash day, or you have to pick your child up today at 3:00, or it’s your brother’s birthday, or you lift weights today, or there’s an email you’ll regret not answering, or you just started a new healthy habit, etc.
When you don’t plan at the start of your day (or the night before), your day is more likely to spin out of control or at least slip into aimless, non-satisfying time wasting. When we are making progress on our goals, we feel happier.
In conclusion, if you have written down a number of To-Dos but can’t get started because you’re not sure where to start, try numbering a few tasks.