What To-Do Lists Do For Your Brain
To keep a thorough to-do list, to be totally on top of the expectations placed on you, is to free your mind to reach its full potential. It gives your brain permission to explore, permission to wander when it wishes to, permission to operate at its highest capacity. Emptying your mind into a to-do list is like lubricating the gears on your bicycle. Everything moves faster and smoother. And you can go further. There's a reason a clear mind works better than a full one. Your brain isn't made to multitask. It's meant to specialize. It wants to focus and find a state of flow. It's your impatient, primitive being that wants to be constantly rewarded and distracted. So externalize the demands of life. Externalize the routine tasks, the boring stuff, the important stuff—everything—onto a to-do list, a daily checklist and/or a calendar. It's only after externalizing every worry and reminder that your brain will wake up, come up with ideas and learn to enjoy the moment