The Leading Causes Of Stress Behind Your Laundry List Of Activities

Research reveals that 76% of people say that work and money are the leading causes of their stress.

To manage excessive workloads, we create to-do lists. Each list crammed with multiple tasks: project due on Monday or doctor appointment at 8am.

However, to-do lists are adding to our stress. We’re literally stressed out over one of the most suggested productivity tools.

It’s known as the Zeigarnik effect, when “unfinished tasks contribute to intrusive, uncontrolled thoughts.” We experience overwhelm throughout the day and racing thoughts at night.

This post offers solutions on how to manage the stress behind your laundry list of activities.

The Stress of To-Do Lists

Do you constantly check your to-do list every two-minutes?

Are you flustered when you can’t locate your list?

Does your list have 25+ items on it?

If so, it’s time to stop making to-do lists. They are setting you up for failure and frustration.

At an early age, we are taught that to be productive we must master our time management skills. So, we scour through self-help books and click-through countless blog articles for the solution.

After hours of research, all the “experts” reach the same conclusion that to-do lists will make your life more efficient. Because when we write all our tasks down, suddenly we will arrive at the nirvana of productivity.

But that’s simply not true. Instead, we become frustrated and exhausted with all our “to-dos.”

In the book Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, the authors state that “a person typically has 150 different tasks on their To-Do list.” That’s a week’s worth of work some people try to fit into one day.

When we jam-pack our lists, we begin to worry.

What’s next? Did I forget something? Umm, w...

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...s in order of importance.

Tomorrow, concentrate only on the first task. Work until the first task is completely finished.

Approach the other tasks in the same manner. Move any unfinished items to a new list for the next day.

Repeat the process everyday.

This method gives you a repeatable process to follow. So, whether you’re managing multiple clients or planning a big event, you learn to focus on what matters most.

James Clear, author of “Transform Your Habits” writes:

“I find that the single best thing to do when you have too many ideas (or when you’re overwhelmed by everything you need to get done) is to prune your ideas and trim away everything that isn’t absolutely necessary. Constraints can make you better. Basically, if you commit to nothing, you’ll be distracted by everything.”

Don’t complicate your life. Avoid multi-tasking and aim for consistent behavior.