Does anyone else out there live by a To-Do list?
My college roommate, Kendall, used to laugh at me & my To-Do list, saying things like I probably wouldn't even brush my teeth without having it on my To-Do list. (That may or may not have been an exaggeration. Ahem...) Kendall, never being one who liked to be put in a box or tied to some external structure, was not a To-Do list kind of girl. When I suggested that she start a To-Do list of her own, she laughed and said, "I could write one, but I probably wouldn't do a thing on it. I'd just run all over myself!"
Well, whatever end of that spectrum you fall on, the reality is we all have to get stuff done. And the more responsibilities you have, the trickier it is to fit it all in.
Ever since I became a mom, I have had an exceedingly difficult time getting anything crossed off my list. Gone are the days of crossing off ten items per day...unless, of course, I started putting on my list things like "wipe Sammy's nose 12 times" or "reassemble Caedmon's StarWars legos 4 times". I could definitely feel successful if that was what composed my list.
Seriously though, it seems like I add 3 things to my list for every one I cross off. Even if you're not too good at math, it's easy to see that that is a losing equation.
Last night I was getting a little stressed about my ever-growing list of To-Do's, which might I add has some fairly important stuff on there like TAXES and getting Sammy's Social Security number worked out. So, what did I do? I emailed it to Andy, of course!
You see, my husband has this profound ability to take something complex and make it simple. He sat down with me and in five minutes had organized my list into an A list, B list, and C list according to priority AND he even took a few items off my list and put them on his own! Well that was the most effective 5 minutes of my day!
So, if you are drowning today amidst an ever growing To-Do list, let me encourage you to divide your list into groups according to priority. Try to keep the A list to only 5 items (definitely no more than 10). Everything else has to take a back seat until you get to those most important things.
Also, put a date by certain projects that you don't have time to do right now but you could schedule time for in two weeks from now. Once it has a date on the calendar, it doesn't have to hang over your head with the pressure of "I can never get around to that!"
Ok, I've spent enough time writing about my To-Do list...it's time I go accomplish something on it while Sammy's still napping!
My college roommate, Kendall, used to laugh at me & my To-Do list, saying things like I probably wouldn't even brush my teeth without having it on my To-Do list. (That may or may not have been an exaggeration. Ahem...) Kendall, never being one who liked to be put in a box or tied to some external structure, was not a To-Do list kind of girl. When I suggested that she start a To-Do list of her own, she laughed and said, "I could write one, but I probably wouldn't do a thing on it. I'd just run all over myself!"
Well, whatever end of that spectrum you fall on, the reality is we all have to get stuff done. And the more responsibilities you have, the trickier it is to fit it all in.
Ever since I became a mom, I have had an exceedingly difficult time getting anything crossed off my list. Gone are the days of crossing off ten items per day...unless, of course, I started putting on my list things like "wipe Sammy's nose 12 times" or "reassemble Caedmon's StarWars legos 4 times". I could definitely feel successful if that was what composed my list.
Seriously though, it seems like I add 3 things to my list for every one I cross off. Even if you're not too good at math, it's easy to see that that is a losing equation.
Last night I was getting a little stressed about my ever-growing list of To-Do's, which might I add has some fairly important stuff on there like TAXES and getting Sammy's Social Security number worked out. So, what did I do? I emailed it to Andy, of course!
You see, my husband has this profound ability to take something complex and make it simple. He sat down with me and in five minutes had organized my list into an A list, B list, and C list according to priority AND he even took a few items off my list and put them on his own! Well that was the most effective 5 minutes of my day!
So, if you are drowning today amidst an ever growing To-Do list, let me encourage you to divide your list into groups according to priority. Try to keep the A list to only 5 items (definitely no more than 10). Everything else has to take a back seat until you get to those most important things.
Also, put a date by certain projects that you don't have time to do right now but you could schedule time for in two weeks from now. Once it has a date on the calendar, it doesn't have to hang over your head with the pressure of "I can never get around to that!"
Ok, I've spent enough time writing about my To-Do list...it's time I go accomplish something on it while Sammy's still napping!
