Think about tools. If you need to pound a nail into a wall, you bring a hammer, it is the proper tool. If you need to screw a table leg to the base of a table, you bring a screwdriver. It is the right tool for the job. If you only have time on a particular day to do 3 things, do not put 6 on your to-do list. That would be like bringing a screwdriver to pound nails into the wall. Instead, when you have time for three things during a particular day, use the right tool and only place three items on your to-do list. By doing this, you create a to-do list that is not a burden and that you can look at with happiness and satisfactorily complete over the course of a day.
Treat your to-do list as an opportunity for bigger, brighter, and better things.
When you stop looking at your to-do list as a burden, you can see it as an opportunity for bigger, brighter, and better things. When I look at my to-do list, for this week, I see that I have to print the newsletter for my non-profit, get my latest book printed, and work on a college speaking tour. Those are the big-picture descriptions of what I must do today. Each of those things has several small steps. So, my to-do list for each day requires only that I do a few things toward accomplishing each of these tasks each day. Thus, by the end of the week, all of these things will be accomplished and I will feel satisfied with myself and what I have been able to do.
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When you use your to-do list to look at the big picture and think long-range, the to-do list is an opportunity. It is an opportunity because when you break big things down into small pieces that you can manage, you are able to do things that upon first glance may seem too big, and impossible to accomplish. Take a moment now to think about your boldest and most audacious dream. Right now, that bold audacious thing may seem insurmountable. However, if you learn to create to-do lists and to divide the items on those lists into small, reasonable steps to be done each day, what was impossible becomes reality.
When you manage your to-do list and use it as a tool, you will be able to accomplish bigger, brighter, and better things. Those things will be your reality instead of your impossibility. Never forget that you can eat an elephant, if you do it a bite at a time. So, get out your to-do lists and start taking a bite out of it each day! So, the question for you this magnificent day is what are you going to take a bit out of today?