This morning, I made a mistake. I asked my to-do list what I should do first.

It did not speak, of course. It only sat on my desk with twelve neat checkboxes. However, the first item, "clean your drawer," looked very confident.

I opened the drawer and found three erasers, an old train ticket, and a note that said, "Do not forget this." Sadly, the note did not say what "this" was.

The list then suggested homework. I know paper cannot suggest things, but the homework line was underlined twice. That felt like pressure.

At noon, I realized I had followed the list for four hours. My room was cleaner. My homework was half finished. My snack box was completely finished.

The last item said, "Rest." I respected that order immediately.

Tomorrow, I will make a shorter list. Maybe it will have only one item: "Do not let the list become the boss."