An unfinished task can be a record of a full day rather than a failed one.

A list measures output, not the day you actually had. The item left over may be sitting there because something else needed you, because a person mattered more than a task, or because the work was larger than the line suggested. Read on its own, it looks like a shortfall. Read alongside the day, it is often the opposite.

At the end of tomorrow, write down what happened rather than what remains. Include the interruptions you handled and the things nobody will see. Then look at the unfinished item and decide honestly whether it is a failure or simply not today.