The Curse of the Albatross To-Do List

The Rime of The Ancient Mariner is Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous epic poem, comprising an astounding 626 lines of haunting verse. However, this pales into ghostly refrain when compared to the way that people compile to-do lists, creating endless documents detailing every last wish, desire and task in their life.

These lists are unattainable and killing your creativity.

For many years, I never finished a to-do list. I spoke at length with anyone who would listen, exploring my reasons for this ineffectual completion of tasks, suggesting fears, anxieties or the most simple and aggrandising excuse, that there were too many things in the world that I wanted complete, because I’M EXPLODING WITH IDEAS. I thought there was something wrong with me for never reaching the end.

In reality, these expansive to-do lists are utterly demoralising and demotivating. There’s little worse than finishing a day, only to see a few things ticked off with a vast swathe of tasks left untouched, their ominous spectre casting a long shadow over what could otherwisebe an enjoyable moment — finishing work for the day.

Just like Coleridge’s epic work, in which an Albatross, killed by a mariner, brings bad luck upon a ship, the to-do list has become the Albatross of the working day, cursing every last moment of your existence with…