Bonus Episode: Procrastinator’s Christmas Prep Plan – Day 1 – Map Out Your Plan – Non-Linear Planning is Your New BFF!

Introducing the Nonlinear Pending List

Here’s the foundation for getting ahead of the holiday season without a rigid, guilt-inducing checklist: a nonlinear, sticky-note-based pending list, built specifically for brains that struggle with procrastination and linear to-do lists.

Two sides, not one list

Grab any two-sided container, a manila folder, a piece of folded construction paper, or even an old decorative box with a separate lid and bottom. Label one side “pending” and the other “tackled.” The word “pending” matters more than it might seem: unlike a to-do list, which implies everything on it must get done, pending simply means a decision hasn’t been made yet, whether that decision is to do it, skip it entirely, or do a scaled-back version instead.

Every task gets its own sticky note

Grab a small sticky notepad and a pen, and brain-dump every single thing that comes to mind needing attention before the holiday: the gift list, the food plan, the schedule of school and family events, putting up the tree, decorating inside and out, all of it, one idea per sticky. Don’t worry about missing something, more can always be added later.

Nothing has to stay unfinished forever

A task moves from pending to tackled once you’ve handled it to whatever degree fits this season of life, even if that’s a scaled-down version of the original idea. Baking six dozen cookies from scratch might become slicing and baking a single dozen of the pre-made kind, and that still counts as tackled. If something on the pending side turns out not to matter this year at all, that’s a valid outcome too, it can simply stay there, or get thrown away entirely once the decision is made not to pursue it.

Why the sticky-note format actually works

A linear list forces tasks into an artificial order, and if the very first item doesn’t spark any interest, everything behind it stalls too. A scattered pile of stickies removes that barrier entirely: whichever one catches your attention that day is the one worth doing. If you get partway through, get pulled toward a different task, or run out of time, the sticky simply goes back to pending, no penalty, no failure, just an honest reflection of where things stand.

Your practical, actionable step

Set up a two-sided pending and tackled system today, whatever container works for you, and spend a few minutes brain-dumping every holiday task onto individual sticky notes. Each day, grab whichever one genuinely interests you, and move it to tackled once it’s been handled, however that ends up looking this year.

Until next time, continue to choose joy.