“Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely, and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Too often, we drown in the guilt of not checking off every task we planned to do in a day.

The reason could be unexpected events, blockers, overestimation, etc., and usually doesn't matter as much.

What matters is whether we carry forward this "productivity guilt" over to the next day.

I often find myself in this spot where I end my days with unfinished tasks. And, sure, closing a day with an empty to-do list feels good, but I've stopped worrying about that.

Not all tasks are of equal significance and urgency.

Therefore, I focus on whether I've completed the most important one or two tasks I had planned for the day. The rest can overflow to the next day. I'm okay with that.

For example, today's Thursday, when I'm drafting this newsletter issue, and it is one of the two most important tasks of the day.

If I finish this task and make at least some progress on the other one — editing my next article — I can finish the day without regrets.

Or, in Emerson's words, finish the day and be done with it.

If you're regularly overwhelmed by your to-do list and feel guilty for not checking off every item by the end of the day, this approach can ease that overwhelm and guilt.

You've done the best you could today, pick things up again tomorrow.

Continuing the discussion on the new practical AI series I'm working on, I've finished writing the first article or Part I of the series.

Part I will give you a no-nonsense understanding of how generative AI tools work, what they are good and bad for, and where in your daily life and work you can incorporate them to make your life easier and free up time.

I'm editing the piece and expect to publish it by next week. Stay tuned.

If you are a Hulry Plus member and have email notifications turned on, you'll know as soon as it's out.

Now, before you move on to the rest of this newsletter issue, have you tried this new personal AI assistant on the block?

To tell you more about it, here are a few words from: