- The to-do-list is no longer just there to make sure I remember to do things - it is its own reward for doing things. Often I will add something to my to do list when I am already about to start it - and need no reminder - just so I can check it off when I'm done. Occasionally I have even added something after I've finished doing it, just for the psychological reward.
- I break things down into smaller parts to make it seem like a larger number of accomplishments than it otherwise would be. For example, today I need to make two similar online purchases - I could have easily put "Buy A and B" as one item, but instead I put "Buy A" and "Buy B". Of course, one has to draw the line somewhere, or we would end up with "get out of bed" "walk towards the door" "open the door" on our lists, and checking off tasks would mean nothing. Use your judgement.
- I put "Work on my coding project" on there, even tho I'll be unlikely to have much time for it. This means, in order to avoid having a single outstanding item at the end of the day, I will at least do some work on it, keeping it fresh in my mind, keeping me in the habit, and inching me towards completing it - and preventing me from outright procrastinating it until tomorrow. Even if it's five minutes work.
These are of course silly psychological tricks that directly accomplish nothing, made even stranger by the fact that I'm using them on myself. Of course, one could say the same about drugs, but nobody would argue that caffeine or amphetamine never give you a genuine boost just because you don't strictly need them. And, I feel that it works.
Now here's the challenge - stop the structured procrastination of writing this comment and go do the things on my to-do-list.
Hmm... should I add "write a comment about to-do-lists" to my to do list...?