The last few weeks I’ve been trying something new. I’ve put one thing on my to-do list that has been nagging me.

Just one thing.

I do everything else that I do in a typical day, but I also get that one more thing done. I think back to my what my 9th grade gym teacher used to say about weight-lifting:

“The first ten reps just keep you where you are, the last 2 or 3 are your gain. That’s your gain!“

I’ve tried to manage long to-do lists. It works for a bit, but I can’t seem to make them long-term habits. Maybe the size just overwhelms me. I decided to simplify. I have one thing beside each work day of the month on an Excel spreadsheet.

Sometimes it is something big. Sometimes it is something small. If it’s something small, I give myself permission to grab another thing. If one thing is too big, I give myself permission to push some of the work to the next day.

Using this concept, I’ve made great strides in eliminating things that I had been procrastinating on. For example, my taxes are always difficult. Even with a tax person, getting her all the information takes a lot of time and processing. It got to late August and I realized that I still have been pushing last years taxes for “later.” This

I had mentioned earlier that I’ve started my dog sitting business. It’s something I had been thinking about doing since January. It made the list, I signed up, and booked around $400 in dog sitting in my first month. It is actually averaging around $500 a month now, but that is a small sample size that included a particularly busy Labor Day.

You may also notice a lot more pictures with articles on this website. I made it a point to finally track down a bug in my publishing software that made it a lengthy process to upload a picture. When it’s a 15 minute process, I have difficulty adding pictures to posts. Now that I’ve got it down to around 90 seconds, you can have pictures. The only downside is that you may have to deal with pictures of Tom Brady who seems to be hated in 44 states. Update: The fix may have its own issues, so it may have to go back on the list.

I’m getting a little carried away in the excitement of completing these tasks. It feels a little like going from a treadmill to getting outside and going for a run. I’m feeling like I’m moving forward, getting somewhere.

So what do you think? Can you do just one thing today?