Todo items are painful to think about. Why, I wonder.. perhaps because they seem to have wrapped within them the anticipation of doing the thing, which I anticipate being painful.. so I guess it's a signal telling my brain "hey, this thing will be painful to do, so factor that into your decision to do it"..

..but, they're so painful to think about that I avoid even letting them enter my mind, which seems inefficient — in fact, if I have many todo items, I can't plan around them at all, because it's too painful to have them all in my mind simultaneously..

..so, what to do.. I could try to convince my brain to not feel the anticipation of a todo item, but then maybe I'd end up doing more painful things than I need to? hm..