DON'T Put It On Your To-Do List

By Marty Nemko

Conventional wisdom says to put all your tasks on a to-do list and then prioritize the list. I've found that for many tasks, you're wiser to just do the task: you save the time it takes to put the task on your list; you avoid adding to the many tasks hanging over your head like Poe's pendulum in the pit; doing it now tends to make you not be overly perfectionistic about it; most important, you avoid procrastination--you've gotten it done. So instead of the guilt, you'll start hearing, "Wow. Thanks for the fast response." That feels so good.