Often, when my mind wanders towards the labyrinthine wildness of unattended duties, a peculiar adage by American Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson springs into the forefront, “Finish each day and be done with it.”
It’s a gentle scolding reminder that dwells on the brink of productivity and peace, a delicate see-saw that each of us, in our capacities, balance precariously.
So the question I present before you is — would nuking the to-dos, the task lists that we so ardently create and desperately try to conquer, lead us to a catastrophe or a revelation?
My current to-do list may seem criminally sparse, housing only five things to some.
Yet, each task echoes the whisperings of Thoreau: “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” But isn’t it just another fool’s gold, faux minimalism masquerading as productivity? The tasks written are not five; they are many, bundled up in convenient packaging, tucked away neatly behind an illusion of manageability.
The question isn’t whether we can cross off these items on the list but rather, are we — amidst this strenuous checking-off ceremony — forgetting the art of being human, of savouring the whimsical and unforeseen detours that life presents? These to-do lists, akin to the spectral chains of Marley’s ghost, bind us to a perpetual rhythm of work, guilt, and anxiety, with little room for serendipitous encounters.
And so, I dare to defy the ubiquitous tradition of jotting down tasks with an almost religious zeal. Instead, I wait to add anything to any list until the commencement of a new project. A deliberate attempt, if you will, to let go of the anxiety-inducing, phantom-like presence of a future burden that doesn’t yet exist.
In essence, to-dos are an illusion, a mirage in the desert of productivity. We chase them, hoping to reach an oasis of accomplishment, only to find ourselves more parched, more starved for that elusive satisfaction. We become Sisyphus, pushing our boulder of tasks uphill only to watch it roll down again — a relentless cycle that leaves us panting, devoid of the joy of accomplishment and the taste of well-earned rest.
Nancing the to-dos isn’t about embracing chaos or neglecting responsibilities; it’s about reclaiming our freedom from an imposed framework of productivity that often measures our worth by the tasks we complete rather than the experiences we gather or the wisdom we acquire. It’s about unshackling ourselves from the chains of constant urgency, grounding ourselves in the present and letting tomorrow’s worries unravel in their own time.
Would the world come crashing down if we nuked our to-dos? Probably not. Life has a certain cadence, a rhythm that’s seldom dictated by our meticulously designed plans. But, while well-intentioned, our obsession with to-dos and productivity threatens to transform us into mere task-completion machines, and the beauty of our human experience diminishes under the oppressive weight of check boxes waiting to be ticked off.
And so, let us invite an era of no to-do lists, where our mind, instead of being haunted by the spectre of unfulfilled tasks, basks in the glory of the present moment, where tasks are met as they come, and life is lived as it unfolds, unscripted, unplanned, untamed — in all its wonderful chaos and sublime unpredictability.