Explore 2019: Taking My Own Advice

One of my top productivity tips is to DO YOUR HARDEST THING FIRST. Asha and I started calling these tough tasks to-do list albatrosses: those things that seem super hard and suck up a ton of emotional energy, but sometimes actually don't take that much time.

And sometimes I really need to refocus and take my own advice. No joke, I have had "break up with your dentist" on my to-do list for WEEKS and have been putting it off. I actually really like my dentist but the location has not been convenient for me for, oh, 14 years, ever since I left academia. Also, change is hard. Also, they took it SO personally when Jon left their practice (again, because the location became inconvenient!) and I don't like hurting people's feelings. Also, I hate using the telephone. I had so many excuses for not going through with the break up!

But then I did some digging around and realized that I have essentially been paying for my dentist's lovely but totally inconvenient-for-me real estate. We don't have dental insurance and I learned that directly comparing, general exams are $66 less at the dentist (a friend recommended to me) 5 minutes from my house compared to my dentist. X-rays are also a lot more expensive. OY! Please do not do the math for what that sum is for 14 years worth of appointments. #lostshoebudget

And right now? To-do albatross begone! This morning I finally booked an appointment with the new dentist and broke up with my old dentist and it literally took about 2 minutes to do all of this. Filling out the medical record form took 1 minute. If you've been wrestling with a to-do list albatross, I recommend tackling it and showing it who's boss!