The To-Do List-Less Life
~ a tonic for corruptive productivity ~
Corrupted by Productivity
For years, my favourite mistress was a pad of blue sticky notes.
Every night, we’d sit down and plan what I’d do tomorrow.
Every morning, I’d blow the list a kiss through coffee-stained lips.
With those lovely blue squares running my life and business, I was unstoppable.
The fuel for my sticky notes usually came from some form of productivity tool. Asana, Notion, pick your poison… where I held all the things I felt I needed to or should do.
Once in a while, desire appeared on the list. But only occasionally.
With this setup, I ran my fitness coaching, freelance copywriting, and then copywriting team businesses for years with relative ease.
And yet I reached a point where…
My mind resented not only my sticky notes, but the idea of productivity itself. My body was tired of filling the note every night and spending every day grinding to tick the boxes. My spirit loathed the dance between productivity tools and sticky notes.
And any mention of “getting shit done” made me want to sit down at the bottom of a lake and breathe.
Surely, you could progress without regimented productivity.
There had to be another way.
Submit to the Current
Now, I keep no master list of tasks, ideas, or “someday” projects.
Instead, my sticky blue mistress sleeps eternal, her crown collecting dust.
Now, my days aren’t predetermined, save for carefully scheduled calls.
Instead, I let what I remember be the filter. I let my body lead the way.
‘Tis a method born from devotional orientation, not productivity.
The key to which requires knowing what matters most (to you.)
So I have writing and my business to work on. Mythic Alchemy initiates to support. Emails and messages to answer. Writing critiques to tackle. Plants and a garden to tend. Myself and a cat to feed, water, and play with. A body that likes going to the gym, walking, yoga-ing, and climbing. The Cabin, family, and friends get love too.
Not everything gets (or needs) a daily touch, but over the course of a week, these are the responsibilities, focuses, and practices that matter most.
The result? A life that’s oriented only around things I want to do, that excite and interest me, that light me up in some way. There are no shoulds or need-to-do’s.
I’ve found that when you fill your days only with things you want to do, you don’t need a high-powered productivity system to keep you on track. Instead, if you trust and dare to throw yourself into the Stream of Desire, the current keeps you on track.
Honest Warnings
I’ll be the first to admit that the To-Do List-Less Life isn’t for everyone. For many reasons, your life might be inherently too complex to forgo writing things down.
But I’ll still challenge you to explore the possibility. You never know what might become possible if you’re willing to poke at and let go of what was.
You’ll have to make hard choices in deciding what matters most.
You may need time to build the kind of trust that allows you to flow through your days without relying on external scaffolding. Time to trust that you will remember and tend to what matters most. And that what falls through the cracks was meant to.
Some will bubble up to the surface when the time is ripe. Others will sink into the silt.
(There’s a sample you can try if you’d like to explore building this trust and rhythm at the end.)
Now Drink
Think of relying on productivity tools, systems, and software as training wheels for tracking and tending to the most important elements of your life.
Living a To-Do List-Less Life removes the training wheels.
You’re not doing less, but more of what matters.
And less of what doesn’t.
When you whittle down what’s on your plate to only what matters most, what thrills and excites, what lights you up more than anything else… Forgetting to do this or that becomes impossible. Finding the time and energy is less of a challenge.
And a cozy blanket of peace and contentment will cloak you, in putting away the lists, shoulds, and need-to-do’s. When you’ve reduced what’s on your plate down to only the simplest, tastiest, most pleasurable dishes you can imagine.
So just for a moment, take a breath and imagine what that life might be like.
Does it purr or roar? Taste like honey or lavender? Feel like silk or stone?
Let your mind play with the possibility.
Then dare to dream that such a life could be yours.
The To-Do List-Less Life isn’t something I suggest drinking in one shot.
Instead, take small sips. See how you like the taste, the tingle, the buzz.
If you’ve relied on lists for years and years, making an abrupt change to how you manage and run your life will be a huge system shock. Probably a disaster.
So start with just one or two days per week where you let what matters most dictate what you do, work on, or tend to. Try this for a month. See what happens.
You’ll know by then whether or not the To-Do List-Less Life is for you.
And one starlight evening, you might find yourself longing to never write another list.
With love from the fog,
~ Alexander, Flamebearer of Emberbrook