The Routine
Each week, I make a day-to-day list of what I’d like to accomplish. Exercise, writing, cleaning, social activities, even silly little things like wearing my retainer—I lay it all out in black & white, print off the list, stick it in the front of my planner so I won’t forget the overall goals, or the small things that can get lost in the shuffle. This is a relatively new technique for me—I’ve only been making these lists for the past few months. I started the list because I found that time was slipping away from me a lot. Days and even weeks would pass, and I wouldn’t know where the time had gone. I would feel as thought I had accomplished next to nothing. I greatly dislike this feeling.
I like the weekly list technique for these reasons:
1) If I have scheduled and planned for time to do things to achieve ultimate goals—i.e. writing—I am less likely to go a few weeks without taking small steps toward these bigger goals. It keeps these things foremost in my mind.
2) When I cross things off at the end of the day, I feel a sense of accomplishment. Even if the list item was something simple like “take a walk”, knowing that this was a goal I had set for myself, and I accomplished this goal, is a good feeling.
3) As I mentioned, I am able to keep myself on track with the small things that I may otherwise let slide.
4) I like to make lists.
I dislike the technique for these reasons:
1) Sometimes it begins to feel that my day-to-day activities are just too structured.
2) If I have a day when what I really mentally and physically need is just to sit on the couch and watch a movie or read, and I do not “accomplish” the items on my list, I feel disappointed in myself. Even if I know what replaced the list items was better for me, there is still the un-marked-off-list to contend with at the end of the day.
3) There is less time for dreaming when you’re marking items off of a list. (Similar to reason #1.)
Lately, I’ve begun to cut back on the list items, putting only the essentials, the biggest and most important things I’d like to accomplish. I think this is a move in the right direction, and I’ll continue to cut down on the list, hopefully to the point where the remaining items are so much a part of my routine that I no longer feel that I need the list.
It just occurred to me that I made two lists within an entry talking about making a list. It’s possible, just possible, that I have a problem. :-)
I like the weekly list technique for these reasons:
1) If I have scheduled and planned for time to do things to achieve ultimate goals—i.e. writing—I am less likely to go a few weeks without taking small steps toward these bigger goals. It keeps these things foremost in my mind.
2) When I cross things off at the end of the day, I feel a sense of accomplishment. Even if the list item was something simple like “take a walk”, knowing that this was a goal I had set for myself, and I accomplished this goal, is a good feeling.
3) As I mentioned, I am able to keep myself on track with the small things that I may otherwise let slide.
4) I like to make lists.
I dislike the technique for these reasons:
1) Sometimes it begins to feel that my day-to-day activities are just too structured.
2) If I have a day when what I really mentally and physically need is just to sit on the couch and watch a movie or read, and I do not “accomplish” the items on my list, I feel disappointed in myself. Even if I know what replaced the list items was better for me, there is still the un-marked-off-list to contend with at the end of the day.
3) There is less time for dreaming when you’re marking items off of a list. (Similar to reason #1.)
Lately, I’ve begun to cut back on the list items, putting only the essentials, the biggest and most important things I’d like to accomplish. I think this is a move in the right direction, and I’ll continue to cut down on the list, hopefully to the point where the remaining items are so much a part of my routine that I no longer feel that I need the list.
It just occurred to me that I made two lists within an entry talking about making a list. It’s possible, just possible, that I have a problem. :-)
posted by Erin Berger Guendelsberger at
10:41 AM
3 Comments:
i love that you made a list of reasons about why you like making lists.
By
Guy Smiley!, at 8:18 AM
I'm sitting here smiling, reading this. Just this afternoon, at lunch, I was telling my daughter who's now living with me what powerful things lists are, and they are, for better or for worse. Like you, I'm a list maker, although I don't do them daily...probably should, though...
Judi
By
emmapeelDallas, at 4:17 AM
I'm not much of a list maker and certainly not daily! If I do make a list, I usually lose it. Of course, I forget lots of things, too. Even my journals are very haphazard. Yes, every once in awhile a list is called for, but it's very infrequent with me, more than ever. I don't even like to make grocery lists anymore! I never was good at organization. I admire people who are.
By
Theresa Williams, at 1:21 AM
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