Why Attaching Emotions to Your Weekly To-Do List Could Be the Ultimate Productivity Booster

At this point, your weekly to-do list is kind of a masterpiece. Everything’s sorted and color-coded. Heck, you’ve even made the effort totime-blockin order to ensure you have time to do things like exercise and sift through your email. There’s just one issue: At the end of the day, you still don’t feel like you’ve gotten anything done.

According to Alexandra Cavoulacos, founder ofThe Museand author ofThe New Rules of Work, there’s a reason for that: You’re not tuning in to the emotional impact of the work on your plate.

It’s a concept she picked up from entrepreneurRobyn Scott: Basically, in order to get sh*t done, give an emotional context for why you’re doing the things you’re doing.

换句话说,在你的待办事项列表中每一项,ask yourself a single question: How will knocking this out make mefeel?

“A lot of times, when people say they feel unproductive about their day, it’s usually because they’ve avoided something hard,” Cavoulacos explains. “The stuff you’re dreading hangs over your head, and even if you don’t realize it, it’s bringing down your daily energy.”

The upshot? Once it’s done, you almost always feel relieved. Which is why Scott recommends setting up what she calls her “Melodramatic To-Do List.”

Here, she categorizes items based on the feelings behind them. That tax return? File under “Massive Relief.” Inbox zero or making a difficult phone call? That goes under “Supremely Satisfying.” Printing photos of her kids is something she labels “Delight.”

Notice a theme? Every emotion she assigns has a positive bent, enabling her to visualize how she’ll feel on the other side.

You see? That closet reorg seems less daunting already.