This Works for Me
Move Tasks From Your To-Do List to an ‘I Did’ List
It can change your whole outlook
Being a freelance writer, I’m free to create my own schedule each day, which usually means I work on a jumble of projects until I go to bed. I’ll cross one item off my to-do list, just to replace it with another. I’m never “done,” which often leaves me anxious, restless, and in a perpetual state of self-pity.
I was dating a psychologist recently and told her about this frustration of mine. While things didn’t work out between us, she did leave me with some valuable advice from her toolbox: To counter my feelings of disappointment, she suggested I keep an “I did” list — a running tab of daily accomplishments. By focusing on what I’ve done instead of what I haven’t, she told me, I would feel more content and in control.
It seemed like such a tiny adjustment that I was initially skeptical. Could something this simple really be enough to improve my outlook?
Still, I decided to give it a try. About a month ago, alongside my to-do list in my Notes app, I created another list and named it “I did.” Every time I would do something — whether it was a mundane task, like answering an email, or a major success, like writing 1,000 words for the novel I’m working on — I would cross it off…
