i got yesterday's list done

[Zoe Girl]

wow, i make a list on a notecard (the really big ones) every day and then do my best of course to check it all off. i transfer over anything left daily and file the old card. it is a way to both track how much i am getting done and CYA as needed. i am also writing procedures for most everything i do, i am off for 10 days starting friday which is one reason but also it is a good way to deal with the communication issues. i can deal with conflicting information by pulling out my procedures and seeing where they need to be changed, then have a record!

in any case i finished my note card yesterday! i am not sure i have finished my list more than a handful of times. i usually don't plan on getting it all done because some things are not due that day but still need to be tracked, but yesterday i did my extra long day for the week, had my son do the vet appointment, set priorities on what i put on the list, and finished. just letting that settle in

i had a women's weekend about a week and a half ago and we did a lot of relational work. some of it was around our roles and how people see us. i heard 2 different ways that people in that setting see me as organized and thought i should take more credit for that. i realize i have that capability and some ways that i have not been doing my best and ways that the context i am working in made it super hard last year. it is not just doing a more organized job but also changing my image at work, and i think i have that chance.

[pcooley]

That's great!

You've inspired me to make my own list today. I have a fondness for index cards, though I don't make great use of them. There are ten lines on an index card; maybe I should limit any day's list to ten things. My problem is that I wake up in the morning, and I have EVERYTHING to do. I want to write a novel, clean out the file cabinet, replace the linoleum, take the train down to the Albuquerque zoo, bicycle to the coffee shop, check the bee hives, collect old poems from old journals, find an electric percolator, make sauerkraut, bake bread, read short stories, meditate, fill in the holes the dog has dug in the back yard, listen to a Thelonius Monk album, dust the record player come to think of it, and on and on and on. Tuesday is my weekday day off, and I always think it should be a relaxing, indulging my introverted nature day, but it's always much more stressful than a work day because of everything I want to do.

Maybe, in spite of my dislike of lists, I should start using one.

Anyone with a a good "make good use of the time you've got" book suggestions? I tried reading the David Allen Getting Things Done book, but it's not that I want to be productive per se, I just have so many things in my brain vying for attention at once. It's the things I want to do to relax that always get pushed out of the way, though often, they're pushed out of the way because I'm standing around, eating a spoonful of peanut butter, wondering what the heck I should be doing.

Anyway, good job on your list! I should get off the internet and start working on mine.

[kib]

Good for you! I never get my list done. I'm also considering your index card method. While I can see it being easier to do this with electronics to avoid having to rewrite the list every day, something about the card method sounds so neat and clean!

[Zoe Girl]

yes i like the electronic idea but i can't get the list to talk to all my devices yet. i just got a work i-phone and so that is hopeful, still trying to get the work email and calendar to talk to the phone however. the index card is super easy and fits in my small cell phone purse (i walk around all afternoon with 2 cell phones and a clipboard).

Paul, have you ever read organizing from the inside out? i love that book, a different way of organizing that works with creative brains. She knows what she is talking about. i also use the front side of the card for today and then the back side or another card for the big ideas i don't get to every day.

[Chicken lady]

I like the inside out book.

I'm a definite list maker, and one thing I was noticing was that the same things were getting pushed from day to day all the time. Primarily because they took a chunk of time and were important only to me. For example - I would get 7 loads of laundry done over a week, but never find the time to throw pots. Now I pick out the most important thing on the list - not the most urgent, the most important, and make sure I do that. Let's face it, I'll stay up a little longer to take care of a bill that's due or throw a lad of underwear in the wash, but at the end of the day when dh says "are you coming to bed?" I'm not going to say "no, I'm carding 8oz of fleece first."

[JaneV2.0]

When I make lists I break the big items into (much) smaller ones. With check boxes. That way, I get the satisfaction of ticking off the increments as I go. I still don't get much done day to day, but it's a start.

[Gardenarian]

When I make lists I break the big items into (much) smaller ones. With check boxes. That way, I get the satisfaction of ticking off the increments as I go. I still don't get much done day to day, but it's a start.

I do the same thing. And of course, putting down things I've already done :)

Congrats on getting through your list, Zoe!