The Task Bank: Where All Your To-Dos Go (and Why You Shouldn’t Do Them All)

Some days it feels like my brain is just one long scroll of unfinished tasks: laundry, cleaning, cooking, emails, pulling weeds, planning meals, scheduling appointments, organizing closets… on and on and on.

This endless mental scroll is what I call the Task Bank — a collection of everything that could demand your attention.

How Tasks End Up in the Bank

For me, a task usually lands in the bank with a little voice that says:

• “Oooh, I should…”

• “I can’t forget to…”

And then, as soon as I leave the room, poof — the thought drifts into the storage room of my brain where it waits. Not gone, just hanging out with a hundred other little reminders that eventually pile up.

That’s the beauty of the Task Bank: it’s a place for all those mental deposits. A way to see everything in one place without having to carry it all in your head.

Why a Task Bank Matters

Here’s the thing: your Task Bank will always be bigger than your actual day. Even if you somehow managed to power through everything in one shot (spoiler: you can’t), at what cost?

Do you really want to prioritize cleaning the grout in your shower over doing yoga? Folding laundry over taking an online course you’ve been dreaming about? Scrubbing the baseboards over playing a board game with your kids?

Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes the laundry matters. But often, the real question is: What do I want to feel at the end of the day?

Choosing from the Bank

Once your tasks are in the bank, you get to decide what comes out:

• Selectively choose which tasks deserve today’s attention.

• Break down the big ones into smaller, realistic steps. (“Gardening” becomes “weed the front bed for 15 minutes.”)

• Balance your choices across family, work, and personal domains.

Instead of racing to clear the whole bank (which is impossible), you withdraw only what you can actually handle — and make sure it’s the right mix for balance.

The Fluid Nature of the Bank

The Task Bank isn’t static. It’s not something you’re supposed to empty out once and for all. It’s fluid, always shifting with new deposits and withdrawals. Not to mix metaphors, but it moves like the bank of a river — sometimes expanding, sometimes receding, always changing shape.

The goal isn’t to eliminate your Task Bank. The goal is to choose from it intentionally — budget your tasks so your day is guided by what matters most, not by what happens to shout the loudest.