STYLE Savvy: Pushing Back Against Infinite Scroll

Lisa Hess fights back against the shoulds and turns off infinite scroll on her to-do list.

One day last week, I was gathering up my things, getting ready to go to an appointment, and chiding myself over things I hadn’t gotten around to doing. Midway through "should-ing" myself — you know, I should have done this and I should have done that — I stopped. 

What had I done?

Assessing the Day

I'd listened to my body when it told me I needed more sleep. I'd started out my morning slowly, in a way that made me ready to take on the day. I'd helped my dad work out an issue with a frequently used app on his phone. I'd made a dent in my to-be graded list: completing everything I'd put on the list for that day, as a matter of fact. I'd written a blog post. 

And yet my focus was on tasks I'd left undone: tasks which, quite frankly, hadn’t been on the list to begin with. Despite the fact that everything I'd done that day had been a good use of my time, not to mention aligned with what I'd set out to do that day (for the most part), I was still chiding myself. 

Beating myself up for what I didn't do is a bad habit. Fortunately, on that particular day, I managed to catch myself in time to step back and really think about how I’d spent my time.

In retrospect, I hadn’t done a lot of any one thing, yet it had been a balanced day. I'd taken care of myself. I'd helped out a family member. I'd managed work responsibilities, and I'd even gotten some writing in — all before I left for my appointment. 

Sure, there was more to do. But there will always be more to do. And deluding ourselves into thinking that our to-do lists aren't on infinite scroll will only make us unhappy because it leads to the unrealistic belief that we really can do it all.

Spoiler alert: we can't. At least not in one day, or all at once.

The Intersection of Organization Lessons and Life Lessons

When I write about organization, I focus on the importance of taking small steps, yet it has taken me an embarrassingly long time to recognize that this applies to life as well. Sometimes, it's essential to do the whole shebang — we can't make half a dinner or clean half a bathroom (well, we can, but it usually works out better if we don't), but we can often break a big task — organizing or otherwise — into smaller, more manageable steps, especially if we learn to silence the little voice that tries to convince us it’s never enough.

We are more than our to-do lists. And it’s high time we learned to silence the shoulds and be satisfied with what we do accomplish. And maybe, just maybe, that will leave us with the energy we need to step away from the list and do something that really matters.

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Copyright 2026 Lisa Hess
Images: Canva