Monday, January 21, 2013

To Do Lists

(Please excuse the lack of pics on today's post, but I was out of time. Hope you will still read it, though.)

Ah, those darned To Do Lists! They shrink, they grow, they morph into an unachievable mass! (Well, at least mine do.)
Sometimes a system that was once infallible, will stop working. Just like life, I guess.
When I used my Filofax, I had a separate section dedicated to my To Do lists. It was a glorious time for I was able to tick around 98% of the items listed in a timely fashion.
After a while though, I would forget to check that section, which resulted in many tasks not done. So I resorted to writing them on the day spaces of my diary section. This was probably the method that best worked, as I would see each day what had to be done.
But that also stopped working, or should I say, I slowly grew undisciplined that I stopped doing them, and eventually I even stopped writing them down.
For what seems to me an eternity I allowed myself to slack. I only pencilled in very important tasks, such as paying the rent and house bills. The other stuff I would just remember to do them - and DO them that moment, or as soon as I re-remembered them. It was chaos. The house started to get messier, I stopped planning my stationery projects, lost contact with online peeps.

I knew I had to tackle this, but wasn't sure how. So I took the 'one step at a time' approach. In my sidekick notebook, I would write down a couple of things or chores I had to do, and really work towards getting them done. Slowly, slowly, I started to feel more encouraged to do those tasks, and without even noticing, I'd be adding more items to the list.

Now I suddenly find myself wanting to prepare my list the day before. Yet I find myself undecided as to how to do this! Should I write them on my daily spaces inside my planner? Or inside my sidekick notebook?
The problem I see in both choices:
Planner: I might not check it daily, and thus not get things done.
Sidekick: the tiny OCD part in my brain doesn't allow me to use it for future stuff. Every day I start by writing the date and then listing what I have or want to do on the day. Not tomorrow, not next week. If I haven't done all the day's tasks, I write an X next to them, and they are added to my list on the next day.

But I think the main reason I don't prepare my list the day before is because I do not want to be overwhelmed by the stuff I need to do.

Huh? What do you know! I think I just answered my own question! I guess I'll just keep with my current system for a while.

2 comments:

Laurie said...

This is exactly why I have to write my to-do lists on my weekly planner pages (in the notes space, not on particular days). If I write them in a separate section, I forget to look. If I write them on a particular day and then don't do it that day, it falls into The Abyss.

When I have my To Dos on my weekly spread, they are in front of me all the time so they don't get forgotten. I can see when during the week I'll have time to slot them in.

The exception, of course, is when I have to do a task on a particular day. Then it does get written onto that day's space.

It took me years, literally, of trying dozens of planner formats before I finally accepted that I must have my To Dos on my weekly spread! Once I accepted that, everything worked better!

Unknown said...

Hi Laurie!
I remember how you always said you're an "out of sight, out of mind" person, and I think I'm starting to become one myself. I haven't even opened my planner today! I know it's not the planner, it's me. I guess I just need to be more disciplined :)

Post a Comment