Quick Hits: A "To-Dread" List and a Reverse Bucket List

Some thoughts on the book "Time Anxiety."

I recently read the book Time Anxiety: The Illusion of Urgency and a Better Way to Live by Chris Guillebeau. It’s a book I’d recommend to anyone who feels anxious about having too many things to do and not enough time to do them (which feels like all of us nowadays).

One of the reasons I liked this book is that Guillebeau presents specific exercises you can do during each chapter to help you live a better life. Two exercises stood out to me because I hadn’t heard them in the other five gajillion self-help books I’ve read.

I tried them out and here are my thoughts or “quick hits” on each.

P.S. - If you’re new here, I also have a second newsletter, “Naturally Entertaining” — a bimonthly roundup of the cool books, movies, TV, and entertainment/nature-related content I’m consuming.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Quick Hit #1: A “To Dread” List

Whether you love or hate to-do lists, we’ve all made them at some point.

But while some of us live off the dopamine high of checking off items on to-do lists (it’s me, hi) Guillebeau recommends an alternative spin on the to-do list called a “to dread” list.

This productivity hack is for the procrastinators out there. You know who you are. If you’re chronically burning the midnight oil the day before a project is due trying to cram in 30 hours of work in one night, this exercise is for you.

Basically, you write down a list of things you’re dreading or avoiding. This isn’t a place for the easy tasks you know you can easily check off, but the hard ones — like that boundary-setting conversation with a friend, the annoying work email, the dentist appointment you have to schedule.

These dreaded tasks can also be things you want to do — like writing a birthday card for your mom or working on a hobby — but maybe put off doing because of perfectionism.

I think the psychology behind this kind of list is to “name and shame” the specific tasks that lead you to feel overwhelmed and anxious, ultimately causing procrastination.

My “to dread” list this week:

• Getting back on track with my feature script and novel, AKA, typing literally anything in Final Draft or Microsoft Word

• Updating my job application tracker and identifying 3-5 jobs and/or freelance work to apply to this week

• Deep cleaning my room and bathroom

• Finishing my homework for class

I thought this task would be terrible, but it honestly wasn’t as bad as I expected, because the number of tasks on my dread list wasn’t as many as I thought. So the activity helped reduce overwhelm and made it easier to envision taking action.

I think this is a solid hack to try on a weekly basis. If it becomes a consistent part of my routine, I’ll report back!

Photo by Donald Giannatti on Unsplash

Quick Hit #2: Reverse Bucket List

We’ve all heard of a bucket list. It’s a list you write of the things you want to do before you die. (Also, there is a heartwarming movie called The Bucket List about this very topic — I recommend watching!)

Some items on my bucket list:

• Learn Japanese

• Publish a novel

• Sell a script

• Write/draw a graphic novel

• Publish a poetry chapbook or book of short stories

• Write a memoir

• Visit Norway

• Visit Japan

• Hike El Camino del Santiago or the Shikoku Pilgrimage

• Create a curriculum for and teach a writing class

• Host an urban botany/nature walking tour

• Make an animated short film

• Learn how to make digital art and pixel art

• Find a volunteer organization I really love

• Become a pro at making linocut prints

It’s nice to remember that some of our best days are ahead of us, and bucket lists remind me that I did not, indeed, peak in my 20s as I sometimes fear.

But Guillebeau’s Time Anxiety book suggests doing something counterintuitive instead to motivate you: create a reverse bucket list of all the cool and exciting things you’ve already done and accomplished.

My inner critic was a tad skeptical, but she eventually gave in, and I gave the reverse bucket list a try.

My reverse bucket list:

• Interned at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

• Got a B.A. in Political Science and South/Southeast Asian Studies from UC Berkeley (Go Bears!)

• Co-led an internship program at an immigration nonprofit in the basement of a church and started a curriculum teaching citizenship and ESL classes at said nonprofit

• Interned for Fair Trade USA

• Won an “Exceptional Delegate” award at a Model United Nations conference

• Became a hobby botanist and am now a soon-to-be-certified California naturalist

• Co-led an Amnesty International volunteer chapter in Washington, DC, organized more rallies and fundraisers than I can recall, and received the “best volunteer group” award in 2016, for which I gave a speech to ac crowd of about 1000 people or so.

• I also organized many events as an Amnesty International volunteer in college from slam poetry on human rights to immigrants’ rights fundraisers.

• Worked on the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act to ensure more equity in K-12 education when I was a civil rights advocate in DC

• Did cool work on women’s rights issues helping activists organize campaigns to ratify the women’s rights treaty (CEDAW) across the country from Michigan to Kentucky (and also participated in a talk at the beautiful Presidio in San Francisco for a women’s rights conference)

• Taught myself screenwriting and novel writing while attending graduate school

• Did a career pivot and completed a Master’s in Literary Reportage (Journalism) at New York University

• Became a freelance writer, reporting on everything from Japanese myths to how to wash mushrooms properly to Black pioneers in the video game industry

• Reported on human rights abuses, US deportees, genocide and land eviction & cultural loss in Cambodia, culminating in the linked pieces above for The New York Times and PBS NewsHour

• Became a semi-decent baker of apple pies

• Fact-checked for The New York Times

• Fell into science reporting by accident and became a passionate climate change/nature reporter as wildfires kicked up in my home state of California (some of my favorite pieces include this piece on wildfires and PTSD, sustainable board games, and a feature on the struggle for clean water in America fifty years after th Clean Water Act)

• Co-created a column on the science behind movies & TV shows called Reel Science, allowing me to blend my interests in entertainment and science

• Tried out so many visual art mediums including resin art, crocheting, cross-stitching, oil painting, charcoal, watercolor, acrylic painting, linocut art, ceramics, mixed media collages, scratchboard art, latch hook and punch needle rugmaking.

• Taught myself how to use a DSLR and did some rad photojournalism

• Won my third-grade spelling bee (okay, this one isn’t really an accomplishment, but this list was sounding so self-serious, I needed to break it up with some levity)

• Studied abroad in Chile and India

• Learned at least basic proficiency in three languages other than English: Hindi, Spanish and Telugu

• Did solo travel in Cambodia and Acadia National Park in Maine

• Won a national journalism award for a feature piece I wrote in high school on the growing trend of sexting among young people

• Volunteered for an organization that pairs writing mentors with teen girls and gender expansive youth

• Started a human rights book club and a climate/environment book club (the latter is still running)

• Watched enough therapy and personal development videos to satisfy a PhD program, probably, hopefully, becoming a better person in the process

• Lived in four major metropolitan areas in my 20s (San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles)

I’m not going to lie: if you’re feeling low and need a good pick-me-up, making a reverse bucket list is the perfect tool to boost your self-confidence.

Yes, humans have intrinsic value regardless of our accomplishments, but most of us need a periodic reminder that we are capable human beings who bring a lot to the table.

As far as mental health hacks go, I give this one an A+. Let me know your thoughts on either or both of these quick hits!

Until next time…