When I’ve got an inkling that I’m carrying too many shoulds in my days, I’ll often write out my entire to-do list so I can see it on the page—every should, task, commitment, job, project, idea, correspondence, and chore that I can think of. When I survey the list, more often than not I’ll see a page filled with superfluous shoulds—expired ideas, unessential commitments, tasks that can wait. Instead of carrying something over to tomorrow’s to-do list for the tenth time, I can ask: What is essential? What can I cross off? What can I delegate or come back to later?
