I struggle with to do lists. They are either so ambitious that it’s absurd, or they are blank pages that reflect my inability to imagine every doing anything meaningful again.
There have been a few things that work. Time Boxing helps to moderate the big to do lists, often magically helping me make progress on it by cutting out any unproductive time. However, though this works during my ambitious times, it isn’t as effective during low periods. After all, there has to be a to do list to be able to time box.
Then last week I came across the Bare Minimum concept. It’s simply a list that outlines the bare minimum you need to do to keep your life on track. I got it from the excellent Struthless, who is a youtuber who is bringing together and encouraging creative people. Check him out, I love his stuff.
For example, yesterday my entire list was “order more comics from the printer”. I’ve been putting this off, but it needs to get done. And I did it — having only one thing on my to do list made it a lot easier too. Then, encouraged by my success, I managed to get a whole bunch of other stuff done too.
What’s your Bare Minimum today? Can you finish it right now? Maybe it’ll help you get a rolling start… or maybe you can finish it and then relax and recharge the rest of the day, feeling good that you finished all your tasks.