Wednesday, October 6, 2010

To-Do Lists

I'm a chronic list maker. This doesn't necessarily make me organized, because often my lists end up on scraps of paper or old receipts from my purse. Often I make a list and then forget it or can't find it. But one thing that makes me feel particularly positive is a to-do list, and not the kind of official to-do list that I usually put into the calendar program on my computer, but the kind that is hastily scribbled on a post-it on my counter each morning over coffee.

The things is, whether I make this list or not, I will honestly get the same things done. Only, when I make the to-do-list, I get to physically take a pen at the end of the day and cross off the things I've already done. This makes me feel accomplished, and thus positive about my day. If I can see, with my very own eyes, that I've completed a task(s) that I set out to, then that makes it a good day.

I do this for writing, as well as my day-to-day life -- often with one list per day scribbled on post it on my kitchen counter and one scribbled on my desk. (That's two lists that I'm allowed to cross things off of at at the end of the day!)

Do you make to-do lists? Do they make you feel positive or negative about your day?

4 comments:

  1. How to avoid losing a to-do list= make it a book mark in the book you are currently reading! My current read follows me to bed (where the list is created before sleeping) and to breakfast the next morning where the list *pops out* at me while I eat a bowl of cereal (and read a few pages on the run). Personally, lists "make my day easier"
    I'm wondering if I should add a new section to the to-do list, however.....*Things not to do*!!! Like do not get on the internet before the two hours on my wip are over!!

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  2. I don't make to-do lists, but my husband is obsessed with them. Not that any of the things on this list ever get done (I'm still waiting for him to finish painting the walls in our old bedroom which he swore he would finish on his next vacation, SIX YEARS AGO!). I find these random lists all over the house, even in the cupboards. Apparently, it is impossible to wait five minutes for the instant mashed potatoes to settle without mapping out a complete list of thing to do, followed my a map of the house drawn from scratch with what is where and what will be moved and disposed of. I think if I were to make lists, I would see the impossible amount of things on it, feel overwhelmed, and just not do any. I just try to take care of the most important things and then go from there.

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  3. That is too funny! My lists are all over the house, too, but I'm not organized enough to ever try mapping out the house. I usually do a daily list, so it doesn't get too overwhelming. If I were to do a weekly list or a monthly list. . . forget it!

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