Why You Should Stop Adding “Laundry” to Your To-Do List—and What It Means for Work

Crossing off “move William’s laundry to dryer” feels much better than staring at “laundry” all day.

If you’re responsible for seeing laundry completed in your household and you’re Type-A enough to be reading this, you’ve probably added “laundry” to your to-do list at some point. I’m here to tell you: stop doing that.

Laundry isn’t one task. It’s a project. And projects have a way of turning to-do lists into sources of guilt and anxiety, especially when they’re vague…

Let’s start with a simple observation: “Laundry” isn’t something you do. It’s a collection of interrelated tasks that require coordination, decision-making, and follow-through. Breaking this down changed how I manage my household—and my work.

The Anatomy of a Project

Let me tell you a little about my household. We have five laundry baskets:

• Each of my kids (3) has their own basket.

• My husband and I share one in our bedroom.

• We keep one by the kitchen/garage door/mudroom, which catches everything from socks that come off at the door to kitchen rags.

So, what does it mean to “do the laundry”? Here’s the entire process:

1. Gather all the laundry baskets.

2. Sort the laundry.

3. Wash four loads.

4. Dry four loads.

5. Fold and put away four loads.

But in practice, it’s not one smooth operation. Instead, it looks like this:

1. Get my oldest’s laundry from his room.

2. Take it to the laundry room.

3. Load it in the washer.

4. Move it to the dryer.

5. Put it in a basket.

And then repeat—for every family member and stage of the process.

When you break it down this way, it becomes evident that “laundry” is a project, not a task. The problem with putting “laundry” on your to-do list is that it doesn’t tell you what to do next. Worse, it’s a psychological trap. Every time you look at it, it feels like you’re failing, even if you’ve already moved two loads through the dryer.

The better approach is to break it down into actionable tasks, like “move William’s laundry to the dryer.”

The To-Do List Trap at Work

We all make the same mistake at work. Instead of writing down what needs to be done, we write down the big, abstract thing we hope to accomplish:

• “Launch Q4 Strategic Planning Campaign.”

• “Acme Corp Partnership.”

• “Finish COGS Initiative.”

These aren’t tasks; they’re projects or even outcomes. They lack the specificity to be actionable, so they sit on your to-do list, silently nagging you every time you scan past them.

Let’s use the example of the “Acme Corp Partnership.” It’s tempting to write this down and feel productive. But what does it mean? If you leave it on your list like that, you’ll waste time remembering the next step—or worse, you’ll procrastinate because it feels overwhelming.

Instead, break it down into tasks like:

1. “Draft initial email to Head of Sales at Acme Corp.”

2. “Research Acme Corp’s recent partnerships for talking points.”

3. “Record Loom for internal alignment async discussion about Acme proposal.”

Each of these is something you can do. When you complete one, you know exactly what the next step is.

Breaking Down Work Projects: Examples

Example 1: Sprint Planning at Settle

At Settle, where I am a Product Manager, sprint planning could easily fall into the trap of being a vague to-do list item. “Sprint planning” isn’t a task—it’s a process that includes:

1. Evaluating progress from the current sprint and likelihood of existing items to ship.

2. Reviewing backlog requests that have come in.

3. Prioritizing items for the current sprint.

4. Aligning with my pod’s key stakeholders, including the Backend Eng Manager, Backend Tech Lead, Frontend Tech Lead, and Designer.

5. Updating Linear (our project management tool) to reflect these decisions for the team.

6. Leading the discussion and assigning work.

Instead of writing “Sprint Planning” on my to-do list, I’ll break it into tasks like:

• “Draft sprint priorities for Sprint 102.”

• “Send planning Loom to Anton”

• “Review Sales feature request submissions for Demand Forecasting”

This makes the work manageable and ensures I never get stuck wondering where to start or what to do next.

Example 2: Writing This Blog Post

I’m proud that I’ve embraced the idea of treating this space as an irregular Substack. That descriptor frees me from the pressure of publishing on a rigid timeline and instead lets me focus on writing only when I feel genuinely compelled to share something.

That said, inspiration doesn’t always equal clarity. Often, I’ll get an idea and jot it down as something cryptic like “Laundry—not to-do list, project.” It makes perfect sense in the moment, but if I leave it there, it gnaws at me for weeks. The vague note becomes an abstract weight, lingering in my head as yet another “thing I should do” without a clear path to completion.

If I don’t break it down into actionable steps, it becomes exactly what this blog post warns against: a project masquerading as a task. So, that cryptic note in my phone had to evolve into something more concrete. Here’s what that process looked like:

1. “Brainstorm examples for ‘laundry is a project.’”
   I started by fleshing out the central metaphor. What does it mean to think of laundry as a project? What makes it different from a task? What are the steps? Writing these thoughts out clarified the core idea and gave me a structure to build on. I’ll often use text-to-speech as a tool here to allow me to make connections out loud.

2. “Write opening section.”
   I broke the task into smaller chunks, starting with the intro. I asked myself: How do I hook readers? Why does this metaphor matter?

3. “Add work-related example.”
   Next, I focused on connecting the personal to the professional. This involved reviewing past work projects that felt overwhelming and figuring out how breaking them into tasks made them manageable.

4. “Edit and refine draft.”
   Once I had a draft, I focused on tightening the language, improving the flow, and adding more examples to make the post relatable.

5. “Publish blog post on Substack.”
   The final step—hitting “Publish”—is deceptively simple but only feels that way because of all the work leading up to it.

By breaking the process into these steps, the daunting task of “write a blog post” became a series of manageable actions. Instead of staring at a blank screen, I always knew what to do next.

This is the difference between a note like “Laundry—not to-do list, project” sitting untouched for weeks and a finished blog post like the one you’re reading now. The same principle applies to everything from household chores to complex work initiatives: If it’s big and vague, break it down.

Why This Matters

The core issue here isn’t about laundry or to-do lists but how we think about work. A vague to-do list reflects a vague mental model of your responsibilities. When you combine projects and tasks, you fail to distinguish between outcomes and the actions required to achieve them.

For example, when I first started working on on Turbine’s Trackstar integration, the project was enormous:

• Reconciling purchase orders with warehouse receipts.

• Understanding the best way to connect the systems.

• Laying the groundwork for future write functionality.

If I had treated “Trackstar integration” as a task, I’d have drowned in uncertainty.

Instead, I broke it into manageable pieces:

• “Define data fields for receipt matching in Trackstar integration.”

• “Write product spec for Trackstar read functionality.”

Each task was concrete and achievable. Over time, these added up to a successful integration.

The Laundry Basket Framework

The real insight here is that life—and work—happen in stages. Every big goal is made up of smaller steps, just like every laundry basket is part of a more extensive system.

When you focus on tasks instead of projects, you:

1. Build momentum: Completing one small task gives you the energy to tackle the next.

2. Gain clarity: Breaking projects into tasks forces you to think through what needs to happen.

3. Feel accomplished: Crossing off “move William’s laundry to dryer” feels much better than staring at “laundry” all day.

Bringing It All Together

The next time you make a to-do list, ask yourself:

1. Is this a task I can complete, or is it a project that needs to be managed?

2. Have I broken it down into actionable steps?

3. Does each step tell me precisely what to do next?

Whether folding laundry, launching a new product, or planning a corporate event, the principle is the same: Stop putting “laundry” on your to-do list. Focus on the basket in front of you—and watch as the big projects take care of themselves.