The To-Do List Fallacy

Because you're at the helm, because you're the leader, the strategist, and the problem solver, it's easy to fall into a relentless grind with your daily tasks. Get this done or else! Because it's due. Oh, you think you can defer it, do you? We set deadlines. We dictate how the work needs to be done. We stress out. Sometimes, at the very, very end of our patience, we burn the midnight oil.

Perhaps we believe this is what productivity is, that it's about relentless labor. That it's about establishing our command over the tasks or the team. Naturally, this is incorrect, not just practically but also factually. It's one of the most persistent misconceptions in the world of work, propagated by hustle culture and the glorification of burnout, that success is won by going head-to-head with an unending to-do list.

Instead, most victories—like most negotiations and most endeavors in life—are won indirectly. They're won inventively. They're not about full effort going against every task, but about finding another way around, a way to really make progress. Sometimes they're won by postponing, sometimes by delegating, other times by automation or collaboration. And so it should go with your tasks. You're not going to conquer them by sheer force of will. You're going to have to find their weak spots. You're not going to get them done by brute force, but by realizing that they're best done at a certain time...or need to be broken down into smaller tasks. You're not going to stop feeling overwhelmed by logic, you'll have to change your perspective.

Nobody wins a battle against time. Every victory is Pyrrhic. So get inventive. Stop throwing yourself against a wall of tasks. Protect both your sanity and your strategic goals. Don't attack head-on.