Fellow blogger, Leo Babauta, suggests a actionable alternative to the traditional, mind-numbing, guilt inducing “To-Do” list by which many of us function.

Art Courtesy of: www.smalldotsandbeautyspots.com

Leo writes,

“Most people reading this will have a to-do program, or a paper list or text file, listing not only projects and tasks but separate lists for home and work and possibly half a dozen different contexts.

Those who don’t have a to-do list probably feel they should, because they’re swamped and feeling overwhelmed.

I’m here to suggest: kill your to-do list.

It sucks up your time, and drains your motivation. Those who have to-do lists usually manage them constantly, or if they don’t they fall into disuse and get dusty and become worthless, while the person who’s fallen behind in maintaining the list feels constantly guilty. For those who keep up with the lists, they spend a lot of time on the lists they could be spending … doing something important.

And what of these lists? They’re long, you never get to the end of them, and half the time the tasks on the list never get done. While it feels good to check items off the list, it feels horrible having items that never get checked off. This is all useless spending of mental energy, because none of it gets you anywhere.

The only thing that matters is the actual doing.

So what’s a better system?

The One Thing System

Here’s what I do, and highly recommend to anyone willing to break free of the to-do list:

1.  I wake up in the morning, and decide what One Thing I’m excited about.

2.  Then I focus on doing that, pushing everything else aside, clearing distractions, and allowing myself to get caught up in the moment.

But … but … “

Read Leo’s complete post at www.zenhabits.net