To-Do Lists and Paper Cranes

By Rachel Zar, LMFT, CST

I write to-do lists on Post-it notes. Tons of them. They’re scattered around my desk as reminders of shopping lists, emails to send, tasks to complete, upcoming plans, and what I’m working on in therapy.

Lists work for me. It feels good to cross things off, and it feels great to see a completed Post-it. I used to crumple those up and satisfactorily toss them in the trash. Victory! But then it was gone—no evidence of all those little triumphs.

Somewhere along the way, I picked up a completed note and folded it into a paper crane (a skill my hands never forgot from middle school). I sat my creation on my desk where that list used to be—a cute, colorful reminder of what I’d accomplished. And then the cranes multiplied. Soon enough, I started doing that for every list, and now, by the end of a week, I have so many cranes that it takes both hands to scoop them up.

It’s easy to look forward at all the things you haven’t done—at the to-do lists that seem to multiply, at the workload in front of you, or at the complex and emotional load of working through trauma or to repair a relationship—and feel totally disheartened. When all you’re seeing is the long road ahead, it can leave you completely overwhelmed and, often, paralyzed.

The next time you feel that way, when all you see are Post-it notes, I encourage you to shift your focus to those paper cranes. Where did you begin? How far have you come? How much have you grown? What have you already accomplished? I bet it’s a lot.

Holding all those little achievements—in both hands!—can be just the reminder you need that you’re well on your way.

“I have a lot to do, and I have done a lot.” That dichotomy will keep you moving forward—one paper crane at a time.