Episode 96

How to Declutter Your To-Do List When It's Too Long to Even Look At

Tame It Series: Part 6

You know what happens when you have 50 browser windows open at the same time. Your computer starts slowing down, everything feels sluggish, and finding the one thing you actually need becomes harder than it should be.

An unmanaged task list can do something similar to your brain. Call Mom. Schedule the oil change. Respond to that email. Make the appointment. Finish the project. Pick up the prescription. Look into that thing someone mentioned three weeks ago. None of these tasks may be particularly overwhelming on its own, but together they create a constant hum of unfinished business.

That's why one of the most common pieces of productivity advice is to do a brain dump. Write down everything you're trying to remember, get it out of your head, and supposedly you'll feel much better.

Except sometimes you don't.

For a lot of people, especially creative people who generate ideas quickly, a brain dump starts with one page and turns into two, three, or five. Instead of feeling relieved, you look at everything you've written and think, There is absolutely no way I can do all of this.

The problem isn't the brain dump itself. The problem is stopping there. Getting tasks out of your head is useful, but capturing your tasks is only the first step. You also need to decide what deserves to stay on your list.

Why Your To-Do List Is Making You Feel Overwhelmed

A to-do list is supposed to help you remember what needs to be done. It isn't supposed to be an inventory of every task, idea, possibility, obligation, and "maybe someday" thought you've had in the last six months.

Digital task managers can make this problem even worse because they're so good at capturing information. You can forward an email to your task manager, move a message into it, dictate something from your phone, and add another task in seconds. That convenience is helpful, but it also makes it incredibly easy to create a bloated list you eventually don't even want to open.

It's a lot like an overstuffed junk drawer. You keep putting things into it because it's easy, but eventually you can't find anything. Out of sight, out of mind becomes out of control.

The solution isn't to stop capturing tasks. Your brain is not the ideal place to store reminders, and trying to keep everything in your working memory takes energy you could use for something more important. Instead, you need a consistent way to capture tasks and a regular process for deciding what happens to them next.

First, Get Your Tasks Into One Place

The specific tool you use to capture tasks matters much less than having a system you'll actually use. A notebook is fine. Post-it notes are fine. A digital task manager is fine. You can even dictate reminders into your phone if that's what works best for your brain and your life.

The problem comes when your tasks are scattered across six different systems. You have three sticky notes on your desk, a voice memo on your phone, a few tasks in an app, something written in a notebook, and two emails you've marked unread because you're hoping that will remind you to do something later.

If that sounds familiar, your first step is simply to consolidate. Gather the notes, reminders, messages, and tasks into one master list. This doesn't need to become a massive organizational project. Put on some music, move quickly, and get everything into one place.

Then you're ready for the part most brain dump advice leaves out: decluttering the list.

How to Prioritize Your To-Do List With the Five Ds

Once you have your master list, you don't need to carefully rank every item from most important to least important. Instead, I recommend running the list through five decisions: delete, defer, delegate, decomplicate, and do.

The order matters because your goal is not to figure out how to accomplish everything you've captured. Your goal is to eliminate as much unnecessary work as possible before deciding what you're actually going to do.

1. Delete

Start with the most gratifying category. Look through your list for things that simply don't need to happen anymore.

Some tasks may have been sitting there so long that they're no longer relevant. Others were ideas that sounded exciting at the time but aren't particularly interesting now. You may also find tasks driven primarily by "should." You think you should do it, but no one is waiting for it, it doesn't support an important priority, and there isn't a meaningful consequence if you don't do it.

Delete it.

You don't need to finish something simply because you once thought about doing it. Ideas are allowed to expire. Priorities are allowed to change. Removing a task from your list isn't failing to complete it. Sometimes it's simply making a decision that the task no longer deserves your time.

2. Defer

Next, look for tasks that matter but don't need to happen this week. These aren't being deleted. They're simply not today's problem.

This distinction is important because a lot of task-list overwhelm comes from looking at everything you might need to do over the next several months as if you're responsible for doing all of it right now.

You're not.

Move those tasks to a later date, a future list, or whatever system you use to keep them available without having them staring at you every day. Deferring allows you to preserve a good idea or future responsibility without letting it compete with this week's priorities.

3. Delegate

Now look at what's left and ask a question many capable people skip: Does this actually need to be done by me?

Delegation isn't reserved for executives with assistants. It's a legitimate strategy for anyone whose responsibilities exceed their available time.

Could a coworker handle something? Could your partner take care of it? Could one of your kids earn a little extra money by doing a household job? Could you pay someone to complete a task that would take you hours but take them 30 minutes?

There will always be tasks only you can do, but we often assume ownership without questioning it. Delegating isn't about avoiding responsibility. It's about making thoughtful decisions about where your time and energy are most valuable.

4. Decomplicate

This one may be my favorite.

Look at the tasks that remain and ask whether they really need to be done to the level you've been imagining. Could something be done less thoroughly and still be good enough? Could you streamline it, automate it, or turn it into a routine so it requires less thought next time?

I love the word enough. If I could turn it into a neon sign and hang it somewhere everyone could see it, I would.

We often hold ourselves to standards of completeness that the task itself doesn't require. Maybe you grew up in a house where the floors were vacuumed every day, so somewhere along the way you decided that's what responsible adults do. But you're an adult now. You get to decide what standard makes sense for your actual life.

Some tasks deserve excellence. Plenty of others just need to be done.

Automation can also remove tasks altogether. Automatic bill pay is an obvious example. If you're repeatedly spending time and attention on something a system could reliably handle for you, consider whether that task needs to keep appearing on your list at all.

5. Do

Only now do we get to the actual do list.

What's left should be important, timely, yours to handle, and worthy of the amount of effort you're planning to give it. Ideally, this list is considerably shorter than the one you started with.

But there's still one more reality check.

Put your task list next to your calendar.

Does everything on your do list realistically fit into the time you have available this week?

If it doesn't, something still needs to change.

Your To-Do List Has to Fit Your Calendar

This is where productivity systems often become disconnected from reality. We create a beautiful list of priorities without acknowledging that Tuesday already contains six hours of meetings, a dentist appointment, school pickup, and dinner.

A task list without available time isn't a plan. Eventually, it becomes a guilt list.

If your remaining tasks don't fit your actual week, decide what can move. Perhaps a meeting can be rescheduled, an appointment can wait, or something you initially classified as a "do" needs another pass through the Five Ds.

Being realistic about your capacity isn't lowering your standards. It's planning based on the life you actually have instead of the imaginary week in which no one interrupts you, nothing takes longer than expected, and you somehow have 37 productive hours in every day.

Stop Task Clutter Before It Starts

Decluttering your task list will give you some immediate relief, but the bigger goal is keeping it from becoming overloaded again.

The same principle applies to physical clutter. Before bringing something new into your home, it's useful to consider where it will live. Before bringing a new responsibility into your life, ask where it will live on your calendar.

A volunteer opportunity may sound worthwhile. A new project may be fascinating. A favor may seem easy when someone asks for it. But saying yes to something new means the time has to come from somewhere.

Before you commit, ask yourself, "What am I going to say no to in order to make room for this?"

If you own a business, you can take the question one step further. If you spend three hours on this new opportunity, what does that cost you in work you aren't doing or revenue you aren't generating? Is the opportunity still worth that cost?

These aren't always easy questions, especially when FOMO is involved. Interesting opportunities tend to sound much more manageable in the abstract than they look once they're sitting on Thursday afternoon between everything else you've already agreed to do.

That's why one of the most useful habits you can develop is learning six simple words: "Let me get back to you."

You don't have to decide immediately. Give yourself enough time to look at your calendar, consider your priorities, and decide whether this new commitment actually fits.

Make Task Decluttering a Weekly Habit

You don't need to wait until your task list becomes unbearable before doing this again. In my Prioritend system, I recommend spending about 30 minutes each week reviewing your tasks and applying the Five Ds.

With practice, it gets much faster. You'll begin recognizing immediately that something can be deleted, moved to next month, handed to someone else, simplified, or placed on this week's actual do list.

That weekly habit is what keeps the 50 browser windows from opening back up in your brain.

The goal isn't to reach some magical point where you have only two things to do each day. That's probably not realistic for most of us. The goal is to make your responsibilities manageable enough that you can see what's important instead of having your actual priorities buried under dozens of tasks that don't belong there.

Start with your current list. Delete what no longer matters. Defer what doesn't matter yet. Delegate what doesn't require you. Decomplicate what doesn't require that much effort. Then do what remains.

You may be surprised by how much lighter your list feels when you stop assuming everything on it deserves to stay.

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The information contained and documents referenced in the podcast “Your Priority Centered Life” are for entertainment, educational and informational purposes only, and are not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed as, professional medical or health treatment, diagnosis, or advice. We strongly encourage listeners to consult with medical providers or qualified mental health providers with issues and questions regarding any physical and/or mental health symptoms or concerns that they may have. Furthermore, the opinions and views expressed by podcast guests, partners and/or affiliates are not necessarily those of the podcast host. Dr. Alise Murray’s opinions and views are expressed in her individual capacity and are not to be construed as those of any of her podcast guests, partners and/or affiliates.