How to stop worrying and start loving the backlog

We all have it: the backlog. Be it a backlog of series that we still want to watch. A list of movies that we want to watch. A bunch of games that are begging to be played or a list of books that are dying to be taken off the shelf and have fingers rummage through them. Wow, did that get poetic fast or what?

With all the content that's being thrown at you these days, it's hard to keep up to date with everything. And it's even harder when you have limited time due to (pick any that apply, or feel free to add your own timesinks here):

• job
• household
• kid
• cat
• social obligations
• sleep

Have no fear, I'm about to mansplain how you can keep that backlog under control, and maybe even mark a few of the items on your backlog as done.

Step 1: Forget about the perfect time and place

I'm a sucker for everything Star Wars. And whenever a new movie comes out, I want to watch it in perfect conditions: in the cinema, in one go, without interruptions. Well, forget about that. If you want to start reducing the amount of things on your backlog, you'll have to make due with whatever time and place is available.

Forget the cinema, enjoy content on a smaller screen like your TV, or even smaller: phones and tablets have excellent screens these days. Pair them with a decent set of bluetooth (or wired if you're ancient like me) headphones and you can still enjoy Star Wars in HD quality.

Forget about enjoying that movie in the evening with some popcorn. If you can't sleep, or you've awoken at 6AM, make use of that time and watch your damn movie with a bowl of cereal instead of popcorn. It'll still be an epic movie, no matter the time of day or snack you're munching on.

Step 2: Go mobile

As I've mentioned above already. The best way to get stuff done is to go mobile. For movies/series: get a phone/tablet. For books: get a phone/ereader. For games: get a Nintendo Switch or phone with some kind of cloud gaming provider (Playstation's remote play, or Xbox cloud gaming).

I've recently finished my playthrough of The Witcher 3. How? Because it was available on the Nintendo Switch. It allowed me to play it wherever I wanted without having to wrestle with my wife for the remote of the TV. She could watch Gray's Anatomy all she wanted, I was busy defeating monsters and getting coins tossed at in Skellige.

Step 3: Break it down

It's taken me until the end of last year to watch Avengers Endgame. I wanted to watch it in one go, the entire 3+ hour movie. A task that was impossible. Once I let go of the idea of having to watch it in one sitting, I started watching it whenever I had a couple minutes to spare: on the porcelain throne, waiting for public transport, during lunch breaks, a couple minutes in bed before going to sleep. Sometimes all I could watch was 2-3 minutes, and it took me over two weeks to watch the whole movie, but at least now I can cross this one of my backlog.

Step 4: It's OK to miss out

There's too much content dropping these days, so if you're not enjoying yourself while watching/reading/playing: drop it and move on to the next thing. Don't keep it in your 'Continue watching' list or on your console's storage. Delete it, so it's out of sight and pick something else to enjoy. Remember: it's entertainment, if you're not entertained, stop wasting time on it.

Stop trying to 100% things. Especially games. Just do the main quest/storyline. Most of the things you can do once you've finished the main story is just filler content anyway.

Step 5: It's OK to have a backlog

We all have a backlog of things we want to watch/read/do/... That's ok. There's too much content coming out these days. Even if you could spend the entire day keeping up, you still wouldn't be able to. So relax, sit back and look at your backlog and admire it. Stop worrying and love the bomb.