Starting a new project can be overwhelming. On a day-to-day basis, it might seem like there is simply no progress being made at all. This perceived lack of progress can quickly become discouraging. Sooner or later, it also becomes a justification for abandoning the project altogether.

Maintaining a TODO list can help to reduce the likelihood of this outcome in several ways. But, for the moment, we’re only going to focus on one of these: each time you complete a task on a TODO list, it provides you with a sense of accomplishment! At the end of each day, you can review the list of tasks you’ve completed and observe measurable progress towards your goal. Hooray!

Unfortunately, there’s a potential downside with TODO lists as well. If your project is truly gigantic, then it means that your TODO list will become gigantic as well. The mere sight of this TODO list could cause you to get overwhelmed and abandon your project before you even get started. Oops!

In this case, I recommend that you temporarily scrap your TODO List in favor of a TODID List. That is, don’t bother maintaining a list of all of the things that you still need to “DO”. Instead, just maintain a list of all of the things that you already “DID”. This will allow you to obtain the same sense of accomplishment each time you complete a task. Additionally, you can still review it at the end of the day to observe measurable progress towards your goal. Hooray-again!