Book Review: "Taming the To-Do List" by Glynnis Whitwer

This book isn’t full of the usual practical advice on how to “tame” your to-do list; like “break big tasks into smaller ones to make them more manageable” or “don’t be afraid to ask for help!” There is some advice of that variety towards the end, but the book tries to focus in on what gets us into “to-do list overload” in the first place.

Our author, Glynnis, takes a long hard look at what has led to her overwhelming to-so lists. Its multiple parted:

-Pride. She admits that she likes the feeling when people says things like “Oh my gosh, you get so much done, I just don’t know how you do it!” What they don’t realize is what expense that it comes at.

- Procrastination. Putting things off until the last minute makes for hurried, subpar work, and STRESS.

-Being scared. She talked about how being scared kept her from asking for help on a group project and how it held things up for everybody.

The author is a Christian, so she does a lot of soul searching to see what leads her down these roads and what she can do to prevent the overload in the first place.

A section that I think will resonate with a lot of people is not comparing your best to other's people's best:

My makeup applying job will never be as good as my sister's. But on my best days I don't look like either a) a corpse or b) a painted harlot from a Western.

My cooking will never be as good as some of my talented foodie friends. But I make a really good (and stupidly easy) tortilla soup.

Your best and my best are different. And that is okay! Whoever said "comparison is the thief of joy" is right on.

If you're expecting a book full of practical time management tips you will be disappointed. If you're looking to get more at the base of your busyness problems and make good, longer lasting change in your life, this book might be for you!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review