How to stop postponing the same tasks every day

If the same few tasks move to tomorrow every evening, it is rarely laziness. Most of the time the day was never going to fit, or the task is not clear enough to start. Here is how to break the loop.

Why do the same tasks keep rolling over?

A task that moves once is normal. A task that moves every day for two weeks is telling you something. Usually it is one of these:

• The day was too full. People tend to underestimate how long their own tasks will take, for all kinds of work, at school, at work and at home. Psychologists call this the planning fallacy.¹ Plan ten tasks for a day with room for five, and five will move. Every day.
• The task is too vague. “Website” or “taxes” is a project, not something you can start. You skip it because there is no clear first move.
• The task feels unpleasant. Research on procrastination suggests that putting a task off is often a way to avoid a bad feeling right now, like boredom, doubt or stress. The cost goes to your future self.²
• Nothing ever decides. Moving a task to tomorrow is easy, and it feels like a decision. It is not one, so the task can move forever.

Five ways to stop the rollover

1. Plan fewer tasks than you think you can do. Start with three to five important tasks for a whole day. If you finish early, add one. A short list you finish beats a long list you carry.
2. Make the first step concrete. Rewrite “Taxes” as “Find last year’s tax letter”. If you cannot start it within ten minutes, it is still too big.
3. Decide when and where you will start. A plan like “When I sit down at nine, I open the proposal” makes it more likely that you begin. A large review of studies on these if-then plans found a medium to large effect on reaching goals.³
4. Give every leftover a decision. At the end of the day, or the start of the next, look at each task that did not get done and choose: today, a new date, later without a date, or done. A decision ends the loop. Moving without deciding keeps it going.
5. Clear out what you will never do. Once a week, look at the oldest task on your list and ask if it still matters. Letting it go is a decision too, and a list you trust is easier to work from.

How Morrow builds this into your day

Morrow is a to-do app and daily planner made around these habits, so you do not have to remember them yourself.

A day that fits

Every card lives on your board, and only the ones you choose go on Today. Today holds five cards by default. You can change the number, but there is always a number, so the day cannot quietly fill up.

One decision for every leftover

Before your day starts, every card that was on yesterday and did not get done comes back, one at a time, with four choices: put it on today, give it a new date, park it on the board without a date, or mark it done. Had a day that got away from you? One press keeps one card and parks the rest.

Moving a card is a choice with a place

Not today? One press on the arrow moves a card to tomorrow, where you will see it again. And when you close the day in the evening, you see what is left and decide what happens to it.

A first step for a card that is stuck

When a card has not changed for weeks, Morrow tells you how long, and offers to break it into small steps. You see the steps first, and nothing changes on your board until you choose.

One old card, once a week

On a big board, Morrow asks about one card a week while you close the day: a card nobody has touched for a month. Keep it, or archive it. Keep the same card twice and Morrow stops asking about it.

Questions

Is postponing a task always bad?

No. Moving a task on purpose, because something more important came up, is planning. The problem is moving it without deciding, day after day, until the list stops meaning anything.

How many tasks should I plan for one day?

There is no number that fits everyone, because tasks differ in size. A good start is three to five important tasks, plus the small things that come with the day. Morrow starts you at five and lets you change it.

What if I keep avoiding one task because I dread it?

Make the first step so small it feels easy, and do it first, before anything else. Starting is usually the hardest part. Once it is started, it is no longer the task you are avoiding.