deepstash
Beta
Deepstash brings you key ideas from the most inspiring articles like this one:
Read more efficiently
Save what inspires you
Remember anything
5 Hacks to Finally Finish Your Most Dreaded To-Do List Item
1
Key Idea
Save all ideas
5 Ways Of Tackling Dreaded Tasks
- Do it in another location. It may be what you need to shock you into action.
- Bribe yourself. Having something to look forward to can make unpleasant tasks more bearable.
- Acknowledge your fear of failure. Doing so makes taking the first steps of the task easier.
- Commit to doing at least 5 minutes of it. Momentum may drive you to keep working. It's also easier to do things if you know you can bail after a few minutes.
- Document your process. It keeps your mind occupied while you complete it and you can use the notes to outsource the task.
96 SAVES
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
13
Key Ideas
To-Do Lists
Your to-do list can be a tool that guides you through your work, or it can be a big fat pillar of undone time bombs taunting you and your unproductive inadequacy.
If the instructions are c...
The two modes
- When a project or task comes up, the steps you need to take start to form in your mind. Now you're in thinking/Boss mode.
- Your to-do list is a collection of those orders, which your Assistant personality will later pick up and do.
Put Items That You're Definitely Doing
Instead of letting tasks you're not quite committed to loiter on your to-do list until you're sick of looking at them, move them off to a separate list, a holding area for Someday/Maybe items.
Only concrete actions you're committed to completing should live on your to-do list.
3
Key Ideas
The State of Flow
Being in flow means focusing your complete attention on the task in front of you. It is an underrated aspect of our happiness at work.
Flow requires simplicity: if a task is too...
Make Frustrating Tasks Easier
Work tasks are rarely chosen by you, so they rarely have optimal difficulty. To make them more likely to produce flow:
- Slow down on your work and let go of the expectations you have related to your tasks.
- Complex tasks can seem very overwhelming and frustrating. So break them up into more manageable sub-tasks.
- Lower your standards temporarily to get the faucet running. Perfectionism will not help you in this case.
Make Boring Tasks More Interesting
You tend to start daydreaming spontaneously when you don’t have something harder to do. To make boring tasks more engaging:
- Up your game. Even a slight increase in standards is often enough to make your focus sharper.
- Measure your performance, keep track of it as you go and make the stakes higher for whatever you’re doing.
- Do it differently. If you change up your explicit strategy, removing the ability to do it by rote, you can increase engagement.
3
Key Ideas
Get Your System Under Control
Create 3 different to-do lists:
- Important but non-time sensitive projects list
- Items that need to be completed today list
- Not-to-do list
The Not-to-do List
The purpose of this list is to know the tasks the are not important and are not worthwhile. There are a lot of things worthy of your time and getting rid of those unnecessary tasks will give you more time to complete more important tasks.
How to Make Your Don't Do List
- Reevaluate your to-do list: Identify the goals and determine how the items in your list impact your aims.
- Create your not to-do list: Cut those unimportant tasks in your to-do list and paste it on your no to-do list. By doing this, you must accept that your time is limited and commit on letting them go.
- Evaluate new tasks: From then on, once a new assignment arrives, evaluate its importance and the effects of it with your goals.