Things I Actually Got Done, and the Ones I Keep Pretending I Will
Personal · 2026-08-13
Personal · 22 April 2026 · 3 min read
Things I actually got done, and the ones I keep pretending I will
Right, so I've got a list. Everyone's got a list. Mine's been sitting in my notes app for about four months now, half of it crossed out, the other half just... staring at me every time I open the phone.
I think the thing nobody tells you about being "productive" is that most of it's just admin dressed up as ambition. You know, sorting the direct debits, replying to the email you've been avoiding, finally booking the dentist. None of that feels like progress but somehow it eats the whole afternoon.
Anyway, I wanted to actually sit down and think about what I've finished versus what I keep telling myself I'll finish. Not in a beat-myself-up way, more just curious. Genuinely curious.
What actually got done
The nursery run, sorted. Every morning, Ted in, me to the office, no drama. That's a system now, not a task, and I think that's the difference actually - things become "done" when they stop being decisions. You just do them.
Work stuff too. I've shipped more this month than the last three combined. Not because I'm smarter or working longer hours, just because I stopped overthinking the first draft. Wrote it rough, fixed it after. Simple as that.
And the dog's walked every single day. Rory doesn't care about my goals, she just wants the park, and honestly that's kept me more consistent than any app or planner ever has.
What's still sat there, half-finished
The spare room. Don't ask.
I mean I could ask myself why it's still full of boxes from the move but I already know the answer - it's not urgent, and nothing urgent-feeling ever gets done first. That's just how brains work, right? We chase the fire, not the slow leak.
Also the book I said I'd read in January. Page 47. Still page 47. I pick it up, read a paragraph, put it down again like it personally offended me.
The bit I actually wanted to say
Here's what I've noticed, and maybe this is obvious to everyone else already: the stuff that gets finished is the stuff with a person attached to it. Ted needs dropping off. Rory needs walking. Work has someone waiting on the other end. But the spare room? No one's waiting. The book? Only me, and I'm apparently very easy to let down.
So maybe the trick isn't discipline at all. Maybe it's just attaching a person, any person, to the thing you actually want to do. Tell someone you're reading the book. Tell someone about the spare room. Make it someone else's problem to ask you about it.
I don't know if that's a system or just an excuse dressed up nicely, but it's what I've got today.
Anyway, page 47 it is. Again.