Tuesday evening
I have (yet again) been surprised to learn the power of lists.
On Sunday, I spent about an hour assessing what I wanted to get done, and I made up two to-do lists for the week. The first is all about writing and writing-related business (they aren't the same thing, but are related). The second list is about everything else in life -- shopping, cleaning, etc.
Yesterday, I operated off of those two lists. Sort of. I have one writing goal that involves me writing two poems (minimum) every day, and another writing-related goal that involves reading poetry every day. They can't really get crossed-off the weekly list unless and until I manage to accomplish both of them by the end of the week. Nevertheless, I managed to get a couple of things done - progress on several multi-part goals, so I could put a little check mark there, but couldn't cross things out.
Did I mention how much I like crossing things out? Hell, I've been known to add something I just did to a list just so I could put a line through it.
Last night, as a result, I spent a little bit of time trying to figure out what tasks on my weekly list belonged on today's list, and made a separate list just for today. Even if it includes a subset of something on the list, it means once I'm done, I can line it through. I am SO much happier than yesterday, since I can go ahead and do that. And also, I got through nearly the entire list, motivated by my desire to draw lines through things.
That's the power of a good list. You have to write it. You have to plan ahead. And then you have to consult it. If you do, you end up getting a lot of tasks done. Talk about a sense of personal satisfaction.
One more task to finish this evening, and then I get to write out tomorrow's list. I'm hoping there will be more success tomorrow.
On Sunday, I spent about an hour assessing what I wanted to get done, and I made up two to-do lists for the week. The first is all about writing and writing-related business (they aren't the same thing, but are related). The second list is about everything else in life -- shopping, cleaning, etc.
Yesterday, I operated off of those two lists. Sort of. I have one writing goal that involves me writing two poems (minimum) every day, and another writing-related goal that involves reading poetry every day. They can't really get crossed-off the weekly list unless and until I manage to accomplish both of them by the end of the week. Nevertheless, I managed to get a couple of things done - progress on several multi-part goals, so I could put a little check mark there, but couldn't cross things out.
Did I mention how much I like crossing things out? Hell, I've been known to add something I just did to a list just so I could put a line through it.
Last night, as a result, I spent a little bit of time trying to figure out what tasks on my weekly list belonged on today's list, and made a separate list just for today. Even if it includes a subset of something on the list, it means once I'm done, I can line it through. I am SO much happier than yesterday, since I can go ahead and do that. And also, I got through nearly the entire list, motivated by my desire to draw lines through things.
That's the power of a good list. You have to write it. You have to plan ahead. And then you have to consult it. If you do, you end up getting a lot of tasks done. Talk about a sense of personal satisfaction.
One more task to finish this evening, and then I get to write out tomorrow's list. I'm hoping there will be more success tomorrow.