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Thread: Daily List

  1. #1
    Geila
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    Daily List

    Hello everyone!

    The last few weeks I've been way too lazy and unproductive and I've been feeling blech as a result. I'm hoping a daily accountability list will help me get me out of this rut and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment again. This weekend will be hot so I want to get lots done today so I have nothing to do Sat & Sun. The goal is a nice balance of productivity, rest and leisure.

    Anyone want to join in?

    Today's list:

    3 loads of laundry
    oil the island butcher block
    walk the dogs
    buy groceries & put them away promptly
    unload dishwasher
    make jello
    pick up after dogs and clean litterbox (my least favorite daily chore)
    grind coffee beans
    wash, dry and put away glassware and china (going from storage to cupboards and has to be done by hand)
    tidy dining room
    tidy family room
    move 2 side tables
    tidy my office
    tidy master bedroom
    email friend A (why do I keep putting this off?)
    text friend B (so easy but I still put it off)
    make iced tea

    Full disclosure: I'm trying to get lots done today so my list is very long and I've added a few easy things that would normally be automatic to raise my success rate and give myself a confidence boost. This is NOT what my list will look like everyday! And this busy day will be followed by two lounging days.

  2. #2
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    Geila, It is a long list, but your logic is like mine...write it all down. My problem tends to be that I make the list, get nothing done and just change the day on the top of the list....but I did get a flower bed weeded this morning before the rain came. Now debating if I should go out and sweat more or wait until tomorrow when it's supposed to be cooler. So, I'll just sit at the computer and try to tidy up records...the little snibs of paper with emails, passwords etc. so they are organized. Thanks for the push.

  3. #3
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Reading this thread, and also reading the threads by Chicken Lady, I get tired looking at these lists. Because I believe I have adult ADD, I work best by writing down the 3 MOST IMPORTANT things to get done in a day, and making sure I check those off. Anything more makes my head explode.

    With the rest of the time, I can only hope to have the time to do what I did as a youth at my aunt's cottage on the beach, and just do what I want to do. Read. Walk. Meditate. Draw. Sew. Think.

    With regard to laundry: I don't have more than 1 small load every day or every other day.
    With regard to eating: I just try to cook what I need to, and eat as simply as possible.
    I certainly don't write down "Cook egg for breakfast" My head would explode.

    Gella, you are aspiring to a "nice balance of productivity, rest, and leisure" but all I see in your list is "productivity."

    Hope I'm not being a buzzkill on the daily list thing, but your list seems to leave little time for rest and leisure. And I don't really believe in scheduling rest and leisure.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  4. #4
    Geila
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    Reading this thread, and also reading the threads by Chicken Lady, I get tired looking at these lists. Because I believe I have adult ADD, I work best by writing down the 3 MOST IMPORTANT things to get done in a day, and making sure I check those off. Anything more makes my head explode.

    With the rest of the time, I can only hope to have the time to do what I did as a youth at my aunt's cottage on the beach, and just do what I want to do. Read. Walk. Meditate. Draw. Sew. Think.

    With regard to laundry: I don't have more than 1 small load every day or every other day.
    With regard to eating: I just try to cook what I need to, and eat as simply as possible.
    I certainly don't write down "Cook egg for breakfast" My head would explode.

    Gella, you are aspiring to a "nice balance of productivity, rest, and leisure" but all I see in your list is "productivity."

    Hope I'm not being a buzzkill on the daily list thing, but your list seems to leave little time for rest and leisure. And I don't really believe in scheduling rest and leisure.
    Catherine - ideally, focusing on the 3 most important things in a day would be my goal too. The problem I run into is that when I get into a lazy rut, I only do the basic necessities and don't accomplish the important, but none urgent, things. I'm one of those people who are All-or-Nothing in many ways. Hence the need to plan for a day when I go at it full-force, like today. Since I work from home, the urgency to get things done is not there because there is always tomorrow, so I let things go more often than not.

    But in regards to the leisure/rest/productivity thing, I suspect that I will get most of the list done except for my office, which is my depository for all things clutter. That should not have been on the list really and should be tackled a few hours at a time. I should still have enough time to do some resting (like now, having lunch and being online) and later I will fold clothes while watching a movie on Netflix. This weekend will be all rest and leisure. I mean, I'll still cook and clean up and walk the dogs and pick up after them, but that is daily living, not project goals. On a planned busy day like today, I put on the easy stuff to get myself going.

    I would rather do one whole day of laundry and have it done for the week than do it every day or every other day. I think that's just personal preference. Same thing with cooking - I usually do one day of batch cooking for the week instead of cooking from scratch every day. The biggest struggle I have is with creating, and sticking to, a comfortable daily routine so that things would not pile up. That's where I hope the daily list will be helpful.

    Catherine - just out of curiosity what would be an example of your 3 MOST IMPORTANT THINGS?

  5. #5
    Geila
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    Quote Originally Posted by nswef View Post
    Geila, It is a long list, but your logic is like mine...write it all down. My problem tends to be that I make the list, get nothing done and just change the day on the top of the list....but I did get a flower bed weeded this morning before the rain came. Now debating if I should go out and sweat more or wait until tomorrow when it's supposed to be cooler. So, I'll just sit at the computer and try to tidy up records...the little snibs of paper with emails, passwords etc. so they are organized. Thanks for the push.
    Hi nswef - don't get me started with all those passwords/user names/pins, etc! We've been thinking of using one of those software programs that keep track of that stuff. It's too much to keep track of. Just yesterday I was trying to remember a password for an old email and could not. It's probably gone forever.

    I hope you'll keep me company on the daily list, it would be nice to have an accountability buddy.

  6. #6
    Geila
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    As an exercise in alternative thinking, I thought I'd use Catherine's method to create today's list and I came up with one; and then I looked at why I've been putting these things off and felt the need to put them on a list rather than just doing them:

    1. Laundry (I still have clean clothes available so not necessary but I don't want to be doing laundry this weekend so this one is planning ahead to avoid laundry during a heat spell)
    2. Glass/china washing and putting away (time and effort needed for a non-urgent task that's been on my mental to-do list for at least 2 weeks)
    3. Dining room tidying (mental energy required to put stuff away - this has been the depository for lots of stuff during a recent home remodel project - has also been on my mental to-do list for at least 2 weeks)

    Here are examples of two other days this week where the list was short but time & energy-consuming:
    Day 1 - Batch cooking
    Day 2 - Clean bathroom, vacuum house, gardening
    Day 3 - Groom and bathe dogs

    So the long list is really just a way for me to trick my brain into tacking the projects that I've been putting off for one reason or another. That's a good insight. Thanks Catherine!

  7. #7
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Geila View Post

    Catherine - just out of curiosity what would be an example of your 3 MOST IMPORTANT THINGS?
    a) get draft of report to client as per agreement
    b) pay credit card bill to avoid late fee
    c) respond to son re going to his house for lunch on Sunday
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  8. #8
    Yppej
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    For the weekend:

    1. Do some of the yard work I am behind on now that the heat wave is over.
    2. Visit my parents.
    3. Go to the library.

  9. #9
    Senior Member rosarugosa's Avatar
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    Interesting to see how we use lists (or not) to manage our days. I am very much a daily list maker, but I think I would benefit from also having a list like Yppej's and Catherine's of the more important things I want to accomplish in a weekend or a week. I'm a person who can miss my big rocks while being totally immersed in managing my grains of sand.
    I actually love to pay bills so that never even makes it onto my list of things to do.
    I do list some daily minutiae like Geila to give myself a boost of accomplishment "cleaned the litter boxes again today!"
    NSWEF: Someday I need to organize my online photo archives, but I think that is a good winter project for me.
    For the weekend:
    1. Inventory paint and stain supplies (I have been putting that off forever)
    2. Some yard work because as Yppej mentioned, the weather has gotten much nicer!
    3. Colonoscopy prep on Sun - I decided I would tell you about this one on the very good chance that it will make the worst item on your own list look pretty pleasant in comparison, lol

  10. #10
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    rosa, you made me laugh about the colonoscopy. There are few things on my lists that I dread...but many that i am willing to put off.

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