Are you ever too paralyzed to make a to-do list?

The Great To-Do List Dilemma.

I love a good list. Or a bad one. Or a mediocre one. I love just about any experience I have putting pen to paper to make a list. Here are some ideas:

• To-do lists for the day.
• To-do lists for the week. 
• Lists of things I want to accomplish with my life. (This is kind of fun, try it!).
• Lists of books I want to read.
• Lists of movies I liked (that list is short).
• Lists of things I like about my spouse.
• Lists of things I’m grateful for. 

But there are some days where the first kind, the lists of things I want to get done today, paralyze me. I stare at the page afraid.

To-do List Fears I Have Known.

I’m afraid I will make the list too long. 

Or that I will try to prioritize it to top 3 things and then I won’t choose the right 3 things. 

I’m afraid that I will only get only two or, even worse, zero things done. And then I’m afraid I will feel like a failure. 

In times past, I may have avoided my journal planner on days like this, which only sent me spiraling further down into my slump.

But I learned something by accident. 

It was on a really anxious day. My body was refusing to believe it could accomplish or prioritize anything on that day. I simply had way too much going on. There were way too many priorities. There had been too many crises and hairpin curves, and I was feeling very out of control of my life. 

So, instead of planning, I found myself journaling instead. (A choice my unique setup caters to).

“I wish,” I wrote, “that I felt better. I wish I knew what to do. I wish I could clean my kitchen, write those emails, work on my book. I wish I could think of sales ideas. I hope the girls are okay today (cue a bunch of anxious thoughts about their problems).” And so on. 

Then I found myself praying. “Dear God, please help me with all of these things. I don’t even know where to start.” 

I started with some self-care. I can’t remember if it was a “slowly ease into the day” kind of thing or “rush around responding to emergencies and fires” kind of morning. But I do remember that at the end of the day, I spotted my journal entry.

And here, my friends, here is why reflection is so important to planning.

Some of the most important things on that wish list were done. 

They just happened.

I did some of them. Other people did some of them. 

And the day turned out better than expected.

And at some day my blood sugar, and my prayers, and perhaps the sun, and maybe even my scattered efforts clicked together, and….

I felt better. 

And I made a “good-things-that-happened” list instead.

It Doesn’t Always Have To Be A To-Do List

So, if you can’t make a to-do list, it’s okay. Make a wish list. 

Or a prayer list. 

Or an affirmation list, like this one:

I promise: Everything will be okay. 

With your day.

With your dreams.

With your life.