Why I’m Swapping My To-Do List for a Completed List (And How It’s Helping My Body and Mind)

Most mornings, I start my day with a to-do list. It’s a habit, really—something I’ve done for years to stay organised. But more often than not, the day ends and the list is still unfinished. Despite all I have done, my mind tends to linger on what’s left undone. And that can feel… heavy. Disappointing, even.

So today, I tried something different.

Instead of writing a list of everything I needed to do, I wrote a completed list as the day went on—a record of what I had already achieved. Every time I did something, I wrote it down. And I wanted to observe how this felt in comparison.

Here’s what my completed list looked like (and it’s only 4:30pm as I write this!):

• Up at 7:00am

• Barefoot walk and grounding in the garden

• Fascia release exercises

• Breathwork session

• Swept the floors and wiped down the skirting boards

• Stripped dried rosemary from the stems (it had been hanging in the conservatory for a while), chopped it, and stored it in jars

• Made homemade nut butter

• Had a healthy breakfast

• Bottled my homemade kombucha

• Collected eucalyptus bark from the garden after the wind—it will be used for kindling in the winter

• Created a new cash book for my dad’s finances (I do his accounts and was a little late starting the new tax year!)

• Placed an advert on Facebook Marketplace to help declutter

• Visited my dad and gave him lots of cuddles

• Exchanged lovely messages and chats with family

• And I started writing this list, with the intention of sharing it here

  
  

All this was done in between seeing several clients, too.

As I sit with this list, I feel calm. I feel proud. I feel a sense of spaciousness in my body rather than the usual tightness that creeps in when I don’t tick everything off a to-do list. The pressure to constantly complete disappears when I shift the focus to what I have already done—especially when many of those things support my body, my home, and my loved ones.

And some of these things? I’d never have put them on a to-do list. But they matter.

This gentle shift has reminded me of something important: achievement isn’t always about crossing off a long list of tasks. Sometimes, it’s about being present. Grounding yourself. Moving your body. Creating moments of care, whether for yourself or someone else.

Would I call today wildly different from any other day? Not really. Except for one thing: how I feel about it.

Maybe you’d like to try it too—write a completed list instead of a to-do list, even just for one day. Tune into how your body responds. Does your breath feel easier? Do your shoulders soften?

Does your inner critic quiet down?

We can be so quick to overlook what we’ve done in favour of what’s left to do. But your day—your effort—deserves recognition.

Let me know if you give it a go. I’d love to hear how it feels for you.

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