Have You Made a To-Dread List? Stop Procrastinating with This Surprising Trick
—How naming what you dread can actually make life easier

We all do it—avoid the hardest things on our to-do lists.

So I cringe when I read this action item in Time Anxiety, a new book I’m reading by Chris Guillebeau:

Make a “To-Dread List.”

It’s like a to-do list but for all the things you’re trying to avoid.

I glance at my regular to-do list for ideas to add to my to-dread list. I find several things I’ve been carrying over for a long time that would be perfect for a to-dread list.

Some are simple.

• Buy more air filters
• Choose more photos for our disaster relief website
• Check on our health insurance deductible

But then there are more emotionally complicated tasks for my to-dread list.

• Decide what pictures go on the newly painted walls
• Clean up storage on my laptop
• Start thinking about Christmas gifts

And then I also have the bigger projects, the ones I haven’t even put on a list anywhere.

• Clean out the attic
• Sort through files in the basement
• Digitize old home videos

Granted, not everything has to get done. Maybe the attic can stay as it is until I die.

But Guillebeau makes a good point about procrastinating:

“If you want to feel better, face more and avoid less.”

Procrastination is often just avoidance. And avoidance catches up with you eventually.

So maybe it’s time to prioritize my to-dread list.

1. Maybe I could tackle one item per month.
2. Or at least take a baby step or two on a few items.
3. And perhaps delete altogether what doesn’t really matter—not every to-dread item deserves my energy.

Doing dreaded things isn’t fun. But not doing them isn’t great either. They linger in our minds, clogging up mental space, or else they slip through the cracks altogether, causing more work later than if we’d just done them and moved on.

Until this year, we’d forever put off our house repainting and new flooring project because . . . well, it just felt overwhelming. But now that it’s done? I wake up every morning so happy to place my feet on soft new carpet, and my eyes on clean walls instead of scuffs and marks.

The dreaded hassle was really a thing. But the rewards have been more than worth it.

So maybe I’ll add one more item to my To-Dread List:

Face more and avoid less.

It’s ironic—but if I can practice it, maybe I’ll finally get to cross it off.

What’s something on your “to-dread list” that might bring relief if you did it? Share your to-dreads in the comments.

Read more:

• Does “For Now” Have to Mean Forever? How to Avoid Settling for Less
  Discover how “for now” decisions don’t have to settle into forever habits—and learn questions to ask yourself to promote growth and change instead.
• Before You Box Up the Past, Ask This One Question First
  Fifteen years after her death, I’m finally reading my mother’s journals. What I’m finding is reshaping how I see her—and myself. Here’s what I’m learning, and the question that changes everything.
• Why Now Is the Best Time to Be Generous: The Backpack Story That Shows the Power of Giving Now
  A $100 gift for a waitress’s daughter’s backpack reminded me that generosity today can make a bigger impact than waiting for the “right” time.

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