Do you love a to-do list as much as I do?
I loooove a to-do list.
Well, mostly I love checking things off that list.
But on this week’s Build Your Copywriting Business podcast episode, Kate and I dug into how we’ve been rethinking the to-do list so we don’t fall into what Kate is calling the “to-do list trap.”
If you ever put things on your list and:
- Feel guilty for every day that an item sits on your list—and you don’t complete it
- Feel like you have to check off every item on your list because they’re there
- Or feel like your list is never-ending (because it literally will never end!)
Then you’ll come away with new ways to look at your to-do lists so you get all the benefits of a list without the burden.
TUNE IN: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Stitcher
Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[02:04] Kate introduces the “To-Do List Trap,” which is the feeling that you must do everything on your list just because you wrote it down. How these lists often become chaotic catch-alls for half-formed ideas that aren’t actually priorities.
[03:27] I love Kate’s idea of keeping a daily list of only one or two items while pushing everything else into a “bucket” or “parking lot”. This helps you focus on hitting immediate client deadlines without getting bogged down by non-essential tasks.
[05:19] Kate compares to-do lists to online shopping, where she leaves items in tabs for a week to see if she still actually wants them. We find that letting ideas “marinate” helps us realize many of them don’t actually matter and can be erased without guilt.
[07:47] For something to be on a to-do list, it must be a concrete action item rather than an amorphous thought. To manage my own chaos, I do “brain dumps” to organize tasks into categories like home, business marketing, and student needs.
[09:32] I admit to having 99 tabs open on my phone and ideas scattered across voice notes, emails, and Google Docs. We discuss being ruthless with this “digital clutter” by closing tabs or reading articles immediately to clear the mental weight.
[12:47] Instead of scheduling tasks weeks in advance, I now use Asana to schedule just one step at a time with a “Schedule Next” reminder. This prevents the “crummy feelings” and time-wasting that occur when you have to reschedule an entire project because life got in the way.
[16:00] Our operations manager, Kaitlin, taught us that if a task stays red on our schedule for two days, it’s a sign the task is too large. When a project like “build a website” feels overwhelming, you must break it down into smaller, attackable steps.
[18:22] I realized that I often chase “fake accomplishments,” like clearing my Amazon wishlist or finishing a downloaded podcast, instead of doing high-priority work. We see students fall into this trap too, feeling they must watch every single old coaching call instead of taking action.
[19:29] I notice students often fall into the trap of thinking they must watch every coaching call recording from the last seven years. This is actually “Resistance” in disguise, making you do low-impact tasks to avoid the scary, high-impact work of actually copywriting.
[21:50] Kate and I discuss how empowering it is to simply delete a task that has been lingering for weeks. If a task isn’t truly necessary and you haven’t done it yet, deleting it can provide more relief than actually completing it.
[24:14] I’ve started using AI tools like ChatGPT as an “external brain” to help organize my chaotic thoughts. Instead of letting ideas sit in 99 open tabs, I feed them into the AI to help me categorize and prioritize what needs action.
[28:45] Kate mentions using AI to find the “holes” in her logic or to see things from a different perspective. We view AI not as a way to replace our writing, but as a way to manage the overwhelming volume of ideas we generate.
[32:10] A long to-do list leads to decision fatigue, which makes it harder to do the actual creative work. By narrowing our focus to just one or two items, we save our mental energy for writing great copy.
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But here are a few of the highlights:
“The trap I fall into… is having things on your list and then feeling like you have to do them because they entered onto this list.” – Kate
“Thinking about things… they take up a lot of space on my to-do list and energy if you let them.” – Nicki
“If something is on our to-do list for two days and we still haven’t gotten to it, that’s a sign… that the project was too big or the task was too big.” – Nicki
“I use AI as an external brain… to help me make sense of all this chaos.” – Nicki
Mentioned in the Episode
- Ep. 154: How Freelancers Can Masterfully Juggle Multiple Projects – with Kaitlyn Spinney
- Episode BONUS: AI & Copywriting: Using AI to Your Advantage to Wow Clients and Land High-Paying Work
- Ep. 241: ChatGPT: Friend or Foe? – with Amber Smith
Related Links
- 4 Tools to Stay On Top of Your To-Do List
- Ep. 154: How Freelancers Can Masterfully Juggle Multiple Projects – with Kaitlyn Spinney
Get an *Exclusive* Bonus Recording!
Tell us what you love about the podcast and what you hope to hear next! When you do, you can get access to an exclusive bonus recording featuring five wildly successful entrepreneurs who share what they do (and don’t!) look for when hiring copywriters. You do not want to miss it!
Get all the details on how to get your recording here »
About the Build Your Business Podcast
Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?
Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 15+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.
Whether you want to land an on-staff job, freelance full-time and work from wherever you want, or make extra money with a side hustle, the best place to start learning is right here.
