Side Quest: The Anti To Do List

Just over a year ago, I thought I was on track with my goals. I thought I had my rhythm, my lane, my plan, I thought I was getting all the things done! But then I felt it: that tense, exhausting, jittery mix of tired and wired. Have you experienced the kind of day where your brain is buzzing, but your body is flat and sluggish? 

And I realised something awful: I’d been running on other people’s schedules, their ideas of success, their timelines. I was doing work that felt like it should matter because everyone else said it mattered. And yet… it didn’t light me up. Not even a little.

I spent the whole day staring at my own list, thinking: “I don’t want to do any of this. None of it feels like me.
Or like fun. Where is the fun! Where is the joy?”

The morning after these revelations I decided to have a great day. I went to a café, treated myself to cake and chai at Alphabet Cafe in West End and I tried not to finish my book because I don't want it to end. And it purposely had nothing to do with my aforementioned, boring, sad, lame to do list.

As I sat there, it hit me: maybe the problem wasn’t me.
Maybe it was the to-do list. Maybe the to do list was the whole damn problem.

That’s when I had a whimsical thought: what if I designed an anti to do list? A map that asked the hard hitting questions like "what do I actually want to do?" and "where do I want to be today?"

I raced home from the cafe and got to it, and late in the day, the Side Quest Anti To Do List existed!

The design style is based on the "LockedIn" artwork that was made as a fake joke about a Wizarding and Warlock Networking Social Media like LinkedIn. It started off with wanting to design a new embroidered keyring and then when I saw LockedIn and it reminded me of LinkedIn, I knew I had more to unpack and more stories to tell. I spent a whole day focusing on LockedIn and by the end I had this gorgeous print filled with silly pieces that were adapted from LinkedIn, dragons and wizards laughing at lizards - it's silly, funny and one of my favourite pieces recently! All from a Side Quest I decided to run with, and boy was it worth it!

I think when we tap into joy, silliness, whimsy we become more electric and more fun! We draw energy towards us instead of doing things we think we *should* do that sucks the life out of us.

I wanted you to feel like you were doing something fun and productive, but in the way that taps into what you really want to do and how you really want to spend your time!

I really enjoy creating design tools like this, I don't think they have to be boring or stale, I think they can be exciting, aesthetically pleasing and useful. So if you want to ditch your to do list and go on a Side Quest, order one here!