I asked my friend to make a list of things he used to enjoy (walks with his dog, lunch at the deli), and another list of things that he wanted to do but didn't necessarily enjoy (doing laundry, paying bills).

He chose one thing from each list to do each day. On Tuesday, he had lunch at the deli with a friend, and vacuumed the living room. On Wednesday, he worked on a model airplane and did a load of laundry.

Sometimes it's overwhelming to think of all the things I could be doing or should be doing, he said. Choosing just the one thing from each list does seem to help.