Using a planner isn’t easy. Although it’s often introduced in grade school, chances are you’ve tried to use one throughout your life. It can be tricky and sometimes, it becomes a projection of our anxiety, insecurities, and the ways we try to avoid them. Checklists can present a similar issue, as they sometimes carry more meaning than just ticking tasks off. Both tools are rooted in productivity, something deeply tied to mental health.
In this article, we’ll explore the purpose of checklists and planners, common issues that arise when using them, how they can affect your mental health, and how you can start using them in a healthier way.
The Purpose of Planners and Checklists
The purpose of both tools is to support productivity. A planner is a daily, weekly, or monthly calendar you can fill with reminders for tasks, events, and responsibilities. It’s meant to help you keep track of everything so you don’t have to juggle it all in your mind. You’re less likely to forget or miss anything.
Checklists serve a similar role as straightforward productivity aids. If you’re making your way down a checklist, it gives a clear sense of accomplishment and direction. There’s nothing wrong with having clear goals and methods of achieving them. The issue isn’t about staying committed to a planner or completing a checklist, it’s about what it means to you if something gets missed.
Common Issues with Planners
As a therapist, I’ve heard many concerns from people projecting their anxiety onto their planners. If you see a missed task in your planner, it’s just that, a missed task. But when it begins to mean something about your worth or identity, it becomes harmful.
Some people fear they’ve disappointed someone, fallen short, or are doomed because of a simple oversight. When a planner holds too much emotional weight, your self-worth may feel tied to your ability to stick to your plan. A planner is not a measure of your value. As a colleague once said, “It looks like another expectation to disappoint.” When we hand our emotions over to a lifeless planner, the quality of our day gets tied to outcomes.
Common Issues with Checklists
A similar issue arises with checklists and our emotional attachment to getting things done. If you use checklists primarily to feel relief, you may not be using them to remind yourself, but to prove yourself. The problem is that the relief only comes once everything is completed, leaving you emotionally held hostage until every box is checked.
This creates a dependence on the checklist that allows it to dictate how you feel. It often leaves no room for rest or recovery. It’s like waiting to refuel your car only once you reach your destination, you won’t make it. When the need to complete the list is too strong, you may be projecting your anxiety onto a neutral piece of paper. It can become an obsession with earning the reward you believe a finished checklist will bring.
They Often Stem from OCD
If your thoughts about planners and checklists become intrusive—dominating your day and controlling your feelings—you may be dealing with obsessive behavior. If you’re compulsively completing tasks to quiet the discomfort from obsessive thoughts, that’s often a hallmark of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
While it’s important to get things done, the drive to relieve internal distress can become stronger than the satisfaction of true accomplishment. OCD-related use of planners and checklists is rarely fulfilling—it’s often a self-destructive loop that leads to burnout, frustration, or abandoning these tools altogether.
Let Your Planner Serve You
Instead of serving your planner, your planner should serve you. Think of it like an administrative assistant, you’re the CEO. Your full attention is needed for high-priority tasks, so your assistant manages the little details. Your planner can keep track of deadlines, events, and reminders to reduce your stress, not add to it.
When the pressure of missed tasks disappears, the planner becomes a supportive tool, not a judge. If you feel dependent on it to be successful, the roles have flipped. Don’t serve your planner, let it serve you, the CEO of your life.
Let Your Checklist Be Independent of Your Feelings
Similarly, a checklist is just a tool to help you stay on track. It’s not meant to control your emotional state. Picture it like a grocery list, you might stop to pick up something extra along the way, and that’s okay. A checklist isn’t a cage; it’s a guide.
To sustain yourself, you need breaks and space to refuel between tasks. More importantly, don’t wait until the checklist is complete to feel better. Practice self-care—walk, journal, meditate, breathe, while you’re still working through it. If you can feel better emotionally, you’ll function better practically. And you’ll be more likely to complete the list in the end.
Don’t be emotionally dependent on your list. If you don’t finish everything, that’s okay. The checklist is there to serve you, not the other way around.
Conclusion
Keeping a planner or checklist isn’t easy. These tools can quickly become emotional representations of your work ethic or self-worth, and keep you from feeling peace until they’re “satisfied.” But remember: they exist to support you, not define you. You don’t have to earn relief through productivity, you can choose it now.
If your relationship with planning and productivity feels obsessive or distressing, therapy may help. Planners and checklists can be powerful tools for organizing your life, but only if they’re used to empower you, not to prove yourself.
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