Tue 27 Apr 2010
One practice that unquestionably causes happiness is completing tasks that are hanging over your head. When I was at my last job, failing to do that was my biggest cause of anxiety. Leo Babauta has a post today on Zen Habits on the topic, where he advocates having a One Thing to-do list. Just having that one looming task to do forces you to do it first, instead of procrastinating with other less important items. In my training for PIRG, that exact advise was one of the biggest messages of their productivity workshop. Do the thing you’re most dreading first thing in the morning.
So today, my One Thing is calling Amtrak to figure out the cheapest way to get tickets for my cross-country trip. Then I can buy the tickets and not stress out anymore about the price going up. What’s your One Thing today?
3 Responses to “ One Looming Thing ”
Comments:
Leave a Reply
Trackbacks & Pingbacks:
-
Pingback from Ruthlessly say no to to-do items | Dispatches from Life
June 27th, 2010 at 6:50 pm[...] feel like doing the things on it. I’ve decided that that’s okay. This is related to the One Thing strategy for dealing with overwhelming to-do lists, except it allows for avoiding your [...]
April 28th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
How did your train-ticket purchase endeavor work out? I hope it went well. I am excited for you: I love train travel.
My one “looming” thing at work tends to be the matching gifts. But they are all resolved and taken care of now. Thanks, Alex!
April 28th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
It went well! An hour 45 minutes on the phone with Amtrak, and probably longer than that before the phone call figuring everything out, but all the reservations have been made, and I’ll pay for my 45-day rail pass this weekend!
Yeah, matching gifts were one of the other big looming things that I had trouble with at FCR. The main one, though, was calling donors who had issues of various sorts. So stressful. Hope you continue to stay on top of everything!