By Brendan O’Meara
If you’re anything like me, you have a tendency to get easily overwhelmed.
Tasks pop into your head as fast as they leave. This is where the time-tested to-do list can act out another great function: a butterfly net.
Ideas can be like butterflies, all flittering around in aimless directions. You always say that you’ll remember that idea that popped into your head. Or you think you can keep it all straight.
Odds are you can’t.
So with your to-do list next to you at all times, use it like a butterfly net. When an idea or task pops into your head, immediately write it down on the list. This has a weirdly cathartic effect, like you actually captured the idea or task.
I find this relieves a lot of anxiety, especially since I work from home these days. My mind bounces from having to make new hummingbird water, to preparing for a podcast, to doing the dishes, to writing a column on deadline and so on.
Snatching ideas and tasks into my to-do list notebook secures them so I can act on them when I can.
