When the To-Do List Loses (and You Win)
I was glued to my computer. I switched browser windows to reference the historical letters between Abigail Adams and Thomas Jefferson, drawing out more details to continue writing the scene.
A turn of phrase flowed from pen to page. “Wow. Where did that come from?” I thought, while at the same time recognizing the infrequent and fleeting feeling of creative delight. I hadn’t felt that for quite some time.
What prompted the experience? I had, yet again, let myself indulge—or honor—where my energy was pulling me at that moment. This is what my brain could and wanted to do at the time.
That creative moment came after I’d looked at my to-do list for the umpteenth time that Friday. I still didn’t have the energy for my top three priorities, the work I really needed to get done like taxes, the next steps on a critical project, and catching up on past-due email responses.
Instead, I shifted my attention to a class writing assignment. I was drawn to the creative writing exercise, a scene inspired by an historical archive of letters from our forefathers. It brought together elements I appreciate: historical fiction, Thomas Jefferson (I went to the University of Virginia, the institution he founded), and exploring writing craft.
But, if I’m honest, I also didn’t want the assignment hanging over my head during the weekend. It was due on Sunday. I wanted it done.
So, there I was ignoring my “should” list and following my energy. And something unexpected happened. In that space, the spark of creative delight showed up.
Have you been here? Choosing the thing that lights you up in the moment while the thing you’re supposed to do sits there, staring at you?
My guess is yes. Several of you over the last few months have shared that you’re challenged by how to juggle all you want to do and carve out time for what matters. Many of us are multi-hyphenate, have many interests, and want to do a lot. Yet we also don’t want to feel overextended and over-exhausted.
What I’m finding, more and more, is that what challenges us isn’t a lack of productivity hacks. It’s the deeper question of how to make choices about where to put our limited time and energy and how to make peace with those choices.
I keep coming back to a line from science fiction writer Ray Cummings, “Time exists so that everything doesn’t happen all at once.” I couldn’t do both that Friday afternoon. And while I first felt guilty choosing to write, I also felt something like relief. I was honoring where I actually wanted to spend my time.
So, what happened to taxes?
I let them go for the day, because I wasn’t going to get my brain to do them. That would have taken energy I didn’t have. But I also couldn’t procrastinate forever. What I did instead was create a structure to get the work done.
I recognized that my environment wasn’t the right space, so I changed my context. The next morning, I enrolled my husband to work on taxes together. We went to a coffee shop, got a couple of cappuccinos, and dedicated three hours to digging in. Taxes. Oh fun. But it was much less painful than if I had tried to crank through the day before, and it felt darn good to make progress and not feel delinquent in holding to what I knew needed to get done.
Looking back, I can see all three parts of the Sustainable Ambition method at work in that experience. The writing assignment wasn’t a distraction. It was aligned to what I value, and I was motivated and energized to work on it. The timing was right: It was aligned with how I wanted to spend my time on a Friday afternoon, and it was urgent, due on Sunday. And the effort question? I had the energy to put into writing, not taxes, and it filled me up rather than depleting me.
I consciously chose to plow my energy into what felt most aligned and urgent. And then I did what’s actually hardest for most of us—I stopped questioning whether it was the right call. Because the real energy drain isn’t choosing the “wrong” task. It’s the rumination after you've already chosen. Quiet any remaining guilt by setting up the structure for what still needs doing— like my Saturday coffee shop trip with my husband—and then make peace with the decision, so you can focus, enjoy how you’re spending your time, and be present enough for what is meant to find you.
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Sustainable Ambition offers a strategic approach for pursuing our professional and personal goals in a way that is motivating, meaningful, and manageable from stage to stage, rather than be all consuming in a way that compromises other important aspects of our lives or sacrifices our well-being.