A tremendous benefit of obtaining and retaining a task-based focus is that you experience a greater quantity and frequency of satisfaction and progress than you would by focusing on a goal alone. Tasks provide evidence of incremental progress on your goals, which imparts happiness and momentum.
As you execute the tasks you’ve decomposed from each goal, you bring the satisfaction of accomplishing that goal down to the accomplishment of each task, and the satisfaction of progress on that goal down to progress on each task. Beyond making the journey much more enjoyable, you will find yourself much more motivated to make progress—no matter how mundane the task at hand, while locking in joy whether the goal is actually achieved or not.
Many goals depend on the choices of others. A task-based focus will grant you the greatest possible independence from the actions or inactions of others, as well as unanticipated changes. If you truly believe you’ve identified the list of tasks that describe all you can do to achieve the goal, you can claim a great deal of the satisfaction you would have if you achieved it independent of the factors you cannot control.
When you enumerate tasks, the success of the goal ceases to be a question of whether you achieve it directly—which may become impossible due to the choices of others—but whether you did all you needed to do to contribute your part to its success. You will be surprised to find how much of the satisfaction of completing a goal can be enjoyed when you do your part, even if the goal itself isn’t achieved.
You don’t find peace about your to do list through finishing it, but by being fully engaged in the highest priority items from it. When you are consuming your resources on the highest priorities, everything else ceases to matter until or unless priorities change or new resources emerge.