Make Your To-Do List Work for You

To-do lists are meant to organize your tasks, not stress you out.

There will always be something to do; life will always be demanding.

You’ll never be able to do everything, which is why priorities matter.

We sometimes overestimate how much we can get done in a day and underestimate the amount of time we spend on a task.  Not being able to track your time commitments can stress you out.

How stress affects your health

There are two types of stress: acute and chronic.

Acute stress includes the “fight-flight-freeze” response you feel when threatened or in danger.  In acute (or short-term) stress, your body releases stress hormones that can be used to intensify your concentration and ability to react.

However, when it becomes chronic (or long-term) stress, your body continuously releases elevated levels of stress hormones and does not have enough time to recover.  This can cause issues to your health, ranging from insomnia and digestive problems to obesity and mental health disorders, such as panic disorder.

Overestimation

In a 1999 study, Cornell University psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger devised the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which is described as “a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area.”

Dunning and Kruger discovered that people often miscalculate their metacognitive skills.

This lack of self-awareness leads to an inability to “distinguish accuracy from error.”  It is important to avoid overestimation and strive toward being productive in Flow.

Let’s start with this mindset

You have control over your to-do lists.  You have control over your tasks.  You do not need to stress yourself out.

In Centered, organizing your work flow is simple.  You have control of your Tasks in your dashboard; you have the power to rearrange your tasks.

If you don’t finish today’s Tasks that’s okay.  You’re not Superman or Wonder Woman.

The world will not end.

This is why it’s important to arrange your most important tasks earlier in the day.  You’ll make the most out of your time.

Your Flow Session is under your control

You can’t do everything and that’s okay.

If you spend your day productively in Flow, that’s a win.  If not, don’t beat yourself up over it.  You’ll have another opportunity tomorrow.

The 1–2–3 Rule

Here’s a helpful tip.  Prioritize your Tasks into

• One big Task for the day
• Medium Tasks
• Smaller Tasks that you can reasonably get done in a day.

Centered is here to help you feel more productive and mindful.  We’re all about achieving Flow.