--- title: Productivity: Brief History of To-Do List description: The problem isn’t a lack of goals—it’s too many of them canonical: https://time.com/3944967/to-do-list-history/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-10T11:00:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:34:08.168Z article:section: Ideas og:title: A Brief History of the To-Do List og:description: The problem isn’t a lack of goals—it’s too many of them og:url: https://time.com/3944967/to-do-list-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8932aa606f092ef5/69885989cd1bba1c346fc1e9/to-do-list-pen-yellow-pad.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: to-do-list-pen-yellow-pad og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Brief History of the To-Do List twitter:description: The problem isn’t a lack of goals—it’s too many of them twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8932aa606f092ef5/69885989cd1bba1c346fc1e9/to-do-list-pen-yellow-pad.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Brief History of the To-Do List by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jul 10, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  USA, New Jersey, Jersey City, Close up of woman's hands writing list of things to do USA, New Jersey, Jersey City, Close up of woman's hands writing list of things to doGetty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jul 10, 2015 11:00 AM UTC The to-do list is something I talked about in my [webinar on productivity](https://gumroad.com/l/bewaymoreproductive), specifically, I argued that to-do lists were [evil from a productivity perspective](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/04/saying-no-how-successful-people-stay-productive/). This is something New York Times science writer John Tierney and psychologist Roy F. Baumeister expand upon in “A brief history of the to-do list,” the third chapter of their book [Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength](http://a-fwd.com/es=farstrblo068-21&it=farstrblo0a-21&fr=farstrblo08-21&de=farstrblo07-21&uk=farstrblo-21&ca=farst-20&com=farnamstreet-20&asin-es=0143122231&asin-it=0143122231&asin-fr=0143122231&asin-de=0143122231&asin-uk=0143122231&asin-ca=0143122231&asin-com=0143122231). --- > “” --- “The first step in self-control is to set a clear goal.” --- > “” --- The problem isn’t a lack of goals, however, it’s too many of them. --- > “” --- Even the great Ben Franklin fell victim to having too many goals. --- > “” --- But the virtues were often in conflict with one another. --- > “” --- “The result of conflicting goals is unhappiness instead of action,” Tierney and Baumeister write, arguing the byproduct of this is that you worry more, get less done, and your physical health suffers. The takeaway? Skip the to-do list and [schedule your time](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/04/saying-no-how-successful-people-stay-productive/). If you must have a to-do list, keep it short. **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/05/history-of-the-to-do-list/)**_._** **Join over 60,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3944967/to-do-list-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3944967/to-do-list-history/"},"headline":"A Brief History of the To-Do List","datePublished":"2015-07-10T11:00:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:34:08.168Z","description":"The problem isn’t a lack of goals—it’s too many of them","url":"https://time.com/3944967/to-do-list-history/","keywords":["Psychology","habits","productivity"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8932aa606f092ef5/69885989cd1bba1c346fc1e9/to-do-list-pen-yellow-pad.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8932aa606f092ef5/69885989cd1bba1c346fc1e9/to-do-list-pen-yellow-pad.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"to-do-list-pen-yellow-pad","caption":"to-do-list-pen-yellow-pad","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/psychology/","name":"Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3944967/to-do-list-history/","name":"A Brief History of the To-Do List"}}]}] ```