24) Make a List of Things You Have to…

  1. Make a List of Things You Have to Do That Make You Feel Anxious, and Assign One or Two per Day So You Can Com-plete Them by a Deadline There are many times when each of us feels overwhelmed, anxious about all that has to be done. Maybe it is the holidays or the move C from one season to another, or the planning of a major event. You probably can do this exercise right now: Make a list of things you have to do. Then take a calendar or ruled sheet and assign one or two items to each day, so you can complete them by a specific deadline.

— from The Heart in the Cockpit (Emotion/Awe/Anxiety/Regret/Empathy) · Field Guide to Happiness: Finding Happiness in Its Natural Habitat by Barbara Ann Kipfer

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The third kind gives shapeless worry a shape. Schedule it: set aside a time to worry, or take the long list of anxious tasks and assign just one or two to each day until they are done — Johnny Cash kept exactly this habit, writing "worry" onto his to-do list between "kiss June" and "practice piano". Only do not mistake meditation for a permanent cure; it calms you, but mostly while you are in it, so it has to be a daily practice rather than a one-time fix. — The Heart in the Cockpit (Emotion/Awe/Anxiety/Regret/Empathy)

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