Stop using to-do lists for creative work

To-do lists are brilliant for errands and terrible for creative work. Ship the invoice, buy the groceries, book the dentist — check, check, check. But write the essay? That item sat on my list for three weeks, radiating guilt.

The problem is that creative work does not complete, it accumulates. You cannot check off a first draft the way you check off a phone call, so the list keeps telling you that you failed today.

What works instead is a calendar block and a question. The block says when the work happens. The question — what is the next sentence? — says where to start. Momentum handles the rest.

I still keep a to-do list. It just is not allowed to hold anything that matters anymore.