Tear Up Your Pandemic To-Do List
When you start thinking “I’m not ready for quarantine to end,” you might have a problem
At the beginning of quarantine, as my family holed up at home, I thought I finally would have the time to tackle my Life To-Do’s. You know the ones: All those big, ugly projects lurking guiltily on various lists from over the years that can weigh heavily on the mind and leave you feeling “behind.”
I dove in with weirdly gleeful gusto — cleaning out the jam-packed basement, finishing my taxes, and even making it to the end of Moby-Dick a decade after I started it. I was driven by the quest for To-Do List Zero. I spurred myself on by imagining the peace of mind I would feel when I was finally “done.”
As I slogged through, checking things off my list, I jealously watched my neighbor sitting on his front porch one afternoon playing the ukulele. Just a few more tasks, I thought, and maybe I could do something joyful like that!
But instead of shrinking, my list kept getting longer. I began to worry, crazily, that the quarantine would be lifted before I got to the end of it. That’s when I knew I needed help. I called Terry Monaghan, a time and productivity guru, who helped me when I was working on my book Overwhelmed: World, Love, and Play When No One Has The Time. Here’s…
