“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” ― Viktor E. Frankl

Viktor Emil Frankl was an Austrian neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor, who founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life’s meaning as the central human motivational force.  (Wikipedia)

As you face those to-do constant lists, do you ever have trouble getting motivated?

I had lunch with friends and it seems I’m not the only one with this obstacle. When summer comes each year, I always start out with a big list of goals that I know I’m going to get done during this season. This year, as I plan to get my house ready to sell, I’ve really got urgent projects on my list. 

This is usual for me each Summer. A big list of projects and lots of anticipated success.  Typically, I don’t get much of it done and in September can never figure out what went wrong. It gets so “tropical” hot down here – maybe that’s the problem. Those annual to-do lists just melt away in the heat. 

“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.” ― Hugh Downs

Actually this happens to me and to most people, not because there’s something broken with our brains or due to a lack of will power. People here in the West tend to have what’s called an Optimistic Bias in their thinking.  This is an error in our thought processing that causes us to become overconfident about how things will turn out. This can apply to life in general or our own specific activities. 

What this often leads to is what’s called a Planning Fallacy. As we begin a project, like putting together a summer list of things to do, we get too optimistic about the time it will actually take to complete a project. We get behind or never start because the list overwhelms us. Do you see the roots in that Optimistic Bias?

I’ve known about this for a long time. But this year, I’m being more deliberate in may awareness of my implicit biases. So, what I’m doing this summer is dividing and conquering. Doing just one thing from my list each day. Eating that elephant, one bite at a time. I’m two months in and so far, so good. 

Next time you’ve got a big list – why not break it down instead of letting your optimism foul your plans. 

“Chew off a little every day, because it’s hard to swallow a whole pie at once.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich