There will be a really long chapter in my book about prioritization of what goes on the list and what doesn’t. I can’t hope to capture all of that information in this format. So this will be more like a summary of a summary, compared to the other posts so far.
The bottom line is that only important tasks go on your BATDL. If you are constantly inundating your real, important tasks with junk, you will hate your list because it won’t be Badass. As people with ADHD, we need to set ourselves up for success by making it easy. In this case, the “it” is looking at your BATDL. If you look at your BATDL and every task on it is actually important, you almost can’t go wrong. If you are struggling at a certain point in your day, or week, you can just pick any task on your BATDL to accomplish, even one that feels easier. Because you know that every task is inherently important, you don’t need to worry about wasting your time. Even if the chosen task isn’t all the way at the top of the list, as long as you are not actively avoiding a more urgent task as an anxiety response, it doesn’t matter what you get done in those moments. Whatever task that is, becomes something that you don’t have to accomplish later.
Also, remember that “importance” is still in the eye of the beholder and encompasses your whole like. Self care is important. Social relationships are important. Sleep and downtime are important. Date night with your spouse is a great example. Especially if you have young kids, planning a date night can feel like a real pain in the ass. And it is generally a task that my clients avoid planning…so it doesn’t happen. This largely results from their belief that “Date night isn’t important enough to put on my BATDL” Really? An easily identifiable action item that directly contributes to the health the single most important relationship in your life, isn’t important enough to go on your BATDL? No, it is not paying the mortgage, but I would argue it is pretty high up on the importance list, even though it may not feel urgent on a given day.
This is a summary of the fifth chapter of my upcoming book: 10 Steps to a Badass To Do List: Task management for the ADHD brain. As always with my blog, I value content over perfection. I am not in the habit of editing much, if at all. I hope you enjoy the content. If any of my (hopefully minor) mistakes bother you… that’s on you. Maybe try meditating?