There's a task you've been avoiding. You know which one.
It's the one you moved from yesterday's list to today's, twice now. It's the one you'll think about during lunch and again at 4pm. It's the reason you keep checking your phone.
Here's the move. Do it first.
Not first when you've cleared your inbox. Not first when you feel ready. First. As in, tomorrow morning, before email, before Slack, before anything else, that one task is the first thing you touch.
The reason this works isn't complicated. The hardest task on your list is the one drawing power from the whole day. Until it's done, every other task is happening in its shadow. You finish it at 9am, and the rest of the day is downhill. You let it slide until 4pm, and you've spent eight hours half-relaxing, half-working, while one item sat on your list pulling everything sideways.
There's an old version of this rule, usually attributed to Mark Twain. Eat the frog first. The bigger version is the one you already know in your gut. The day you'll be proudest of is the one where you do the worst thing before anyone else is awake.
This is also why Lansia asks you to write tomorrow's list tonight, and why the order of your tasks is up to you. The first task on the list is the first task of the day. Make that one the hard one. Future-you, tomorrow at 9am, will thank past-you.
Tonight, write tomorrow's list. Put the hardest thing first. Don't negotiate with yourself in the morning.
Open the app. Three tasks. The hard one goes first.
Read next. The five-minute habit that changes mornings or Stop whining, start winning.
Up to five tasks for tomorrow, written tonight. $4.99 once, no subscription.