Taming the To-Do List

Replacing Bad Habits with Good

My first instinct was to leave the clean, folded clothes on top of the dresser.

There was a logical reason. My arms were filled with other freshly laundered items, so it would have been difficult to open the drawer while balancing the stack. My plan was to come back a few minutes later when my arms were empty.

This impulse to stop short of finishing happens every day. In the morning. In the afternoon. In the evening. Especially when my days feel jam-packed and I want to move on to the next thing on my list as quickly as possible.

Which is why I want to leave clean clothes crumpled in a basket rather than folding them while they are still warm from the dryer. It’s why I’d rather place dirty dishes on the counter than open the dishwasher and place them inside. And why I set the television remote on the end table rather than returning it to the decorative box I purchased so we’d never lose the remote again!

One day, when I draped my robe over the bathtub rim for the thousandth time, the irony of my choice hit me full force. Why would I not take three more steps to the closet and hang up my robe? Three steps! In just two seconds my robe would be in its place, hung on its hook on the back of the closet door.

In fact, why did I not just fold my pajamas and put them in the drawer? And put my curling iron under the sink? And make my bed? We’re talking five minutes, max, and my bedroom would be picked up. Instead, my careless choices led to a very cluttered room.

I had developed a habit of not finishing what I started, and unfinished tasks surrounded me. And it wasn’t all simple things like putting away clothes. My history of not finishing tasks included some major ones like leaving a wall half-painted. Recently my husband and I were looking at old photos and realized we had lived for years with a huge hole in the wall due to some rambunctious play on a recliner. We had the money to fix it; we just didn’t. Quickly we became oblivious to it.

I had big goals for organizing my home and keeping it clean, but my daily habits were undermining my progress. I knew I had to change my habits, and I needed to start small. Obviously, all my big talk about getting organized wasn’t making an impact on my behavior.

So I started hanging up my bathrobe every day. That was simple enough that I could do it. My bed was still unmade and the clothes were still on the dresser, but my robe was in its place.

Every time I wanted to toss that bathrobe on a horizontal surface, I said to myself, Finish what you start! Just that little cue made a difference. And enjoying a refreshingly cleaner room motivated me to keep up that habit, and eventually add others. Now it would drive me nuts to see my robe on the bathtub. But it took months of making a small, right choice to replace my bad habit.

Good habits are powerful tools for a procrastinator. When we get in the habit of doing something, we can’t imagine not doing it. Perhaps you have some routines that are second nature. I drink a cup of General Foods French vanilla coffee every day, and have for over twenty years. It’s the first thing I do in the morning.

We really are creatures of habit. And over time, small repeated habits have a cumulative effect.

Addressing small bad habits can make a significant difference for those of us who struggle with procrastination. The thought of making huge, sweeping changes in my lifestyle intimidates me and I come to a screeching halt before I ever get started. But starting small? That seems manageable.

Not only do small beginnings motivate me to keep going, but they develop into good habits. And no matter how insignificant of an impact these seem to have on my big goals, they actually change the way my brain processes.

This is called neuroplasticity, and it’s the brain’s ability to change based on new experiences.

Laying Down Productive Mental Tracks

Neuroscientists are making fascinating discoveries about how the brain works, especially how it changes over time. We used to believe the brain stopped changing in adulthood. But researchers are discovering the brain has the power to change throughout our entire lives.

Our brains are constantly making neural pathways based on our behaviors. The more we persist in certain habits, the stronger those pathways become, which is why we say things like “practice makes perfect.” What that really means is practice makes stronger neural pathways.

The best visual of neural pathways I can think of is of sledding down a snow-covered hill. The first time you head down the hill you have multiple options. But the more you go down the same path, the deeper that track will be.

When people feel locked in a bad habit, they might say they are “stuck in a rut.” And that’s literally what’s happening in their brains. Burka and Yuen put it this way: “The brain is always changing. The good news is that it can generate new, flexible behavior. The bad news is that it can also strengthen old, rigid behaviors.”[1]

It’s not just behaviors that become habits, it’s also our thinking—where procrastination starts for all of us. I’ll start tomorrow. I’ll feel more like facing this task next week. I’m sure I’ll have enough time to finish over the weekend.

Each time we allow our thoughts to follow the pattern of procrastination, we reaffirm those wrong thoughts and deepen the neural pathway. Can’t you just see how our procrastination is a habit that gets strengthened each time we do it?

Fortunately, the opposite is also true. We have the ability to bravely face our procrastination and make lasting changes.

How Habits Develop

Our understanding of habits is relatively new. It wasn’t until the early 1990s that scientists realized the brain’s ability to remember a habit is a unique function, one independent of memory.

Habit routines are stored in the center of the brain, where our automatic behaviors such as breathing, swallowing, and fear response are controlled. Specifically, this area is called the basal ganglia.[2]

In one study, scientists put tiny probes in rats’ brains to monitor cognitive activity while the rats ran through a maze that ended with a treat. The first time through the maze the rats’ brains were exploding with activity, especially in the basal ganglia. But each time the rats ran the maze successfully, their brain activity diminished until there was very little response at all. The rats were running on autopilot.

The sequence of the rats’ actions turned into a routine, which became a habit. The same thing happens to us. This switch from high activity to low allows our brains to reserve energy and function efficiently. As researchers continued to study this pattern, they identified a three-step process for all habits.

First there is the cue, which tells the brain to switch to the learned habit. Second is the routine, which can be a behavior, thought, or emotion. Third is the reward. Also added to the habit loop is a craving that develops for the reward, which is why bad habits are so hard to break.

But the good news is we can change our habits. It will take conscious effort, but it is possible. According to Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit:

To change a habit, you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine. That’s the rule: If you used the same cue, and provide the same reward, you can shift the routine and change the habit. Almost any behavior can be transformed if the cue and reward stay the same.[3]

Creating New Tracks of Behavior

Let’s take a look at how this applies to overcoming our bad procrastination habits. The reward for a procrastinator is the relief from not having to deal with the unpleasant task. Obviously that’s not a healthy reward, but it is a reward.

The challenge is to rewrite the routine so we feel the same relief—only we experience it because we’ve accomplished the task.

The cues for a procrastinator might be physical, but my guess is yours, like mine, are mental. My cue that a procrastination choice is about to happen is the thought, I’ll do that later. My routine is a redirection of my thoughts toward a different task. And my craving is for the reward of relief.

This is what happened with my bathrobe habit. The cue was my thought to hang it up later, my new routine was to actually hang it up, and I replaced the relief of not doing the task with the relief that it was done.

I’ve successfully addressed other bad habits, one at a time, using this practice. There are still more to go, but success builds upon success. And I have confidence in my ability to change my habits. Not all at once, but one at a time.

Creating New Mental Tracks of Truth

Our mental tracks of discouragement are perhaps even more difficult to overcome than our behavior patterns. Words spoken over us, or words we’ve spoken to ourselves, have the power to lock us in patterns of defeat and shame that keep us chained to the procrastination cycle.

In order to break these mental habits, we must catch our devaluing mental scripts the moment they start and replace them with the truth. This is why Scripture memorization is so powerful.

The Bible says we “have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23), and “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12 ESV).

When an old thought pattern tempts us, we must immediately have a verse of truth to replace it.

My friend Renee Swope, author of A Confident Heart, knows how to defeat the lies of the enemy with God’s Word. In one chapter of her book, she offers Bible verses to memorize when self-defeating thoughts arise.[4] Here are some that will help defeat procrastination:

When I Say	God Says	Powerful Promises

I can’t figure things out.	I will direct your steps.	“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Prov. 3:5–6)
This situation is impossible.	All things are possible with My help.	“What is impossible with man is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27)
I can’t do it.	Rely on My strength and you can do all that I’ve called you to do.	“I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me.” (Phil. 4:13 AMP)
I feel overwhelmed.	I will give you peace.	“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence.” (John 16:33 AMP)
I don’t have enough confidence.	I will be your confidence.	“For the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.” (Prov. 3:26 NASB)
I’m not strong enough.	I am your strength.	“God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Ps. 73:26)
I’ll never change.	I am transforming you.	“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:18)

Let this be just the start of your truth toolbox. Every time a negative thought arises, use it as a cue to research the truth about what God says about you. If you aren’t familiar with how to research Scripture, you can go to Biblegateway.com or Crosswalk.com and do a keyword search. Or you might try one of my favorite websites, OpenBible.info, and use their topical Bible.

Strengthening Our Starting Muscles

My daughter Cathrine is built to run. Her legs are strong and fast. She excels at soccer and a few years ago decided to try track.

She faithfully went to practice and walked off the track each day having given it her all. But in spite of her speed, she never finished well. Finally I spoke to the coach because I couldn’t understand how she could be so fast yet not perform as well as everyone expected.

He said, “Cathrine will do well when she learns to get off the starting block well.”

I understood. It was awkward for her to bend over with feet at an angle and planted in the pedals. She was used to pushing off the ground, not a metal block. And as Cathrine learned to start more efficiently, her times indeed improved.

Starting a task or project can be a challenge for a procrastinator. But the only way we strengthen our starting muscles is to start. Then do it again and again.

If you have trouble starting, consider it a muscle you can strengthen. Imagine yourself getting stronger each time you start. Don’t worry about how long you keep at the task. Celebrate the fact that you got started!

Our Model for Finishing Well

Finishing well requires discipline that doesn’t come naturally. But it’s key to living a life that’s managable and reflects God’s priorities. And while books on time management and productivity can help, our best role model for finishing well is Jesus.

Jesus is the picture of focus and discipline, especially in the midst of many people demanding His attention. In the book of John we read about a time when Jesus sat by a well while His disciples went for food. While He waited, a solitary woman came to draw water and Jesus engaged her in a life-changing conversation. Jesus’s words not only transformed this woman’s life, but she went and told her whole village about the man she had met.

On this day, Jesus could have pleaded exhaustion or frustration. He’d been traveling, it was warm, and He was hungry. Not only that, but this was a Samaritan woman, a race of people the Jews despised. And this particular woman was an outcast from even her own people.

Just one of those reasons would have been enough for me to pretend my attention was on something else. I would not have been in the mood to strike up a conversation in the middle of a day like that.

But not Jesus. In spite of all the reasons why He might have ignored her, Jesus narrowed His focus and turned His full attention to this woman.

He finished the assignment God gave Him.

When He reunited with His disciplies, they tried to get Him to eat.

But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:32–35)

Jesus knew what His Father had asked Him to do and He was committed to “finish” His work. Jesus saw the reward of the harvest and persevered through personal discomfort.

And I’m eternally glad Jesus didn’t give up on finishing His work. Because of His sacrifice, we have the gift of eternal life.

Changing lifelong habits will take time. But it is possible. Just take them one at a time. With God’s truth to guide us and His strength to empower us, we can replace bad habits with good.

Practical Application

Did you identify any of your bad habits when I shared some of mine? It’s so easy to get into the habit of putting off things that would take just a few minutes to complete. By themselves, small undone tasks aren’t harmful. But bad habits tend to multiply and have a cumulative effect.

What good habits would make a difference as you tackle your regular task and personal goal? Identify one good habit you can begin today.

My regular task:

My personal goal: