Acharya Prashant addresses the issue of failing to complete to-do lists by advising to write the right things in them. He states that if the right tasks are on the list, one will be forced to complete them. The reason to-do lists often go unattended is because they are filled with worthless tasks. When a list of tasks is created, often not a single one is something that one can love to complete. Love is missing, and therefore, one finds excuses to avoid the tasks. Using willpower, a person might manage to complete two or three out of six tasks, just enough to get by, and this cycle repeats daily. The problem is not the absence of willpower or motivation, but not knowing which tasks to undertake. When assigning a task to oneself, one must ask if it is important. If it is not, one should be bold enough to omit or strike it out. If a task is indeed important, one should take a few minutes to appreciate its importance. Instead of just writing a few words, one should ask, "Why is this thing important? What does it give to me? How does it help me, raise me, strengthen me, purify me?" With good answers to these questions, it becomes impossible to avoid the task. The problem lies not in the absence of willpower, but in the absence of understanding. People often complain about a lack of motivation, but motivation helps nobody; what is needed is realization. One does not realize whether something is important. When you truly know the importance of something, you are spontaneously inspired from within. This clarity energizes you because you know what the task is for. The missing link is not knowing why you should be doing something. When you know the 'why', the 'how' becomes clear. The speaker concludes that love is what is missing from the tasks.
