By Leo Babauta

Let’s be honest. We all have a backlog of things we’ve been avoiding — we procrastinate, it piles up, and the emotional weight of it all only gets heavier as it builds up.

So how do we get through a procrastination backlog like this?

In this guide, we’re going to walk through the process together.

Getting Started

The two things that help to get started are clarity and simplicity.

1. Clarity: If you are clear on what needs to be done, you’ll be much more likely to be able to take some action. So start a simple list — I encourage you to call it the Courage List. These are the things you’ve been avoiding. Pull from your todo list, projects, email, team management software (like Microsoft Teams, Asana, Jira, Basecamp, etc.). I suggest putting easier things at the top, rather than the hardest.

2. Simplicity: Work in 15-minute blocks at first. Just pick something from the top of your list (pick anything) and set a timer for 15 minutes and just start. You might finish it in 2 minutes — pick something else then, and repeat until the timer goes off. Take a break, do a victory dance. Repeat if you have time.

Keep it as simple as possible — all you have to do is get started. Start with the smallest first step — sometimes as simple as opening a document. Then read a few lines.

Breathe.

Take the next tiny step.

How to Process the Backlog

Turn this into a game. The game is to get through your backlog as much as you can in a week, and to have as much fun as you can while doing it!

Every day, do the little 15-minute focus blocks described above. At least one, but do 2–5 of them if you have time.

After a few days, feel free to make them 20-minute blocks, increasing every few days until you eventually get to 30 minutes.

Try to have fun in them, making it into a challenge or an obstacle course or an adventure!

Take one task from your Courage List, and tackle it as simply as possible.

Cross it off, and celebrate!

Take on the next one.

After a week of this, celebrate — reward yourself somehow. Feel proud of any progress you made. You don’t have to finish the whole list in one week, but make some good progress and feel pride in that accomplishment.

The next week, play the game again. For me, I can often whittle down this backlog in about 2 weeks. It’s never down to zero, but it can get pretty low!

How to Keep It Low

Once you’ve gotten it down to just a few items, the game is to not let it pile back up again.

Here’s how you might do that:

1. Every week, make a list of things you want to get done that week. I like to put the most important and/or urgent tasks at the top. Work off this list all week. It’s OK not to finish the whole list, but do your best to do the important stuff.

2. On Friday, I look at the things that aren’t done. Have any of them been on my weekly lists for 2–3 weeks in a row? Those are my new Courage List. I try to prioritize those tasks on Friday.

3. I create focus sessions (with others) specifically to tackle these items on my Courage List.

In this simple way, your backlog never gets super long. If it starts to get long, I play the game I described in the section above for a week or two. It’s all doable!

If you’d like to work on this with me and others, join my Fearless Living Academy — we have focus sessions and community support for tackling this in your life.