114: Gamify the Christmas To Do List for ADHD Brains – Let’s Play TAG!

Tag, You’re It: Turning Your Christmas To-Do List Into a Game

If you’ve got a giant list of Christmas tasks and you’re struggling to get moving on them, let’s make it a little more fun this year. Instead of just trudging through a to-do list, let’s play a game of tag.

What “tag” actually stands for

I’m calling it a Team Accountability Game. The idea is simple: each day, a task gets named, put up your tree, set up a wrapping station, order your cards, whatever seasonal task applies, and anyone who wants to play tags themselves as “it” by completing that task, snapping a photo, and sharing it. If you already did something before it was named, that still counts. If a specific task doesn’t apply to you, swap in something else you’ve been meaning to tackle instead and share that.

Why a group makes this work better

Doing this alongside other people creates real accountability, and it’s more fun than trudging through a list alone. It also doesn’t require perfect participation, missing a day or skipping a task that doesn’t apply to your household is completely fine. This works regardless of which holiday you celebrate, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, winter solstice, or none at all, just swap in whatever seasonal tasks are relevant to you.

Multiple ways to play

Whether you share progress in a group setting, post on social media, or simply email proof of what you’ve completed to someone holding you accountable, all of it counts. The format matters less than the act of sharing what you did with someone else, which is what actually creates the accountability.

Task one: build your nonlinear list

Before diving into daily tasks, start with a simple pending-and-tackled list, everything you’d like to get done this season, written down without any pressure that every item has to happen. As you complete things, they move from pending to tackled. This isn’t a rigid checklist, it’s a flexible way to track what actually gets done, including things you never planned but happened anyway.

Your practical, actionable step

Grab a sticky note or a sheet of paper today and write down everything you’d like to tackle this season, gifts, cards, decorating, whatever comes to mind. Then find one person, a friend, a group, anyone, to share your progress with as you go, and let completing and sharing each task be its own small win.

Until next time, continue to choose joy.