It always seems like actually writing out my to-do list or breaking projects into tasks is so much harder than actually doing the tasks. Sometimes I’ve gone and done tasks, then added them to my to-do list in addition to the other just to give myself more motivation to do it.

Planning where you need to go is so critical, but in many ways, the hardest part. I think that’s why so many people tend to skip the planning stage and wing it. Unfortunately, without that planning stage, businesses ultimately tend to fail.

I think most people get stuck on the question and process you mention, because they have nothing to model on. OR they try to think too big. What to do you put on the list. Simple enough, every time you think to yourself, gee that would be cool as you watch someone surfing (traveling, parenting, working from an ipad..), you put it down on the list. Almost no item individually is life changing. Its the collection of them that makes you smile.

As for emotional labor, it is genuine labor when you have no mentor or path to follow. But when you are holding onto someone’s coat tails, someone who says “of course you can do it, after all I just did”, it is a whole lot easier.