To-do Lists. It’s in the 3×5 cards.
This was me last Saturday.
I debated whether to post this pic. Full disclosure — In cropping out my thighs, my beer also disappeared from the photo where it rested a few inches from my left arm.
This is what I do well. Sit in the sun while reading. A reformed magazine-o-holic, my mother brings me all hers and the few I do get pile up. Then when I get away, I binge read Good Housekeeping, SELF, Oprah, Country Living, Southern Living — the assorted Anything Living magazines.
Part of me likes to think it helps me write a smidge better since I write for print. How other writer’s handle interviews and home redo stories interest me.
The other part of me likes to veg. Check out. And a good magazine helps.
When I see a recipe, self help or house idea I like I rip the page out old school as in the days before Pinterest.
Like this article on to-do lists in Martha Stewart’s Living. Which is ironic to me, since every issue of her magazine can be considered one big TO DO.
Martha Stewart does. And she does whatever she does well. Dang, she even did her stint in prison better than I did some 5-year-old birthday parties.
Not that I don’t try with the to-dos.
Just like the beer was in my wingspan out by the pool, this stack of 3 x 5 cards stays at my right elbow on my desk.
I recently purged the piles on my desk but that said, these were the to-do cards I found scattered about his morning.
Just looking at the photo, I can already tell the chance of that swim happening are about nil.
Also the write for an hour. On my book. That needs to become a priority and here I blog.
The Living article stated the point of writing things down is to get them off our minds. To make things less overwhelming.
It also said to find a system that works for you. I need visual reminders or I run to the brightest, flashiest object and forget the dull, yet extremely important task — like pay the water bill before it gets shut off. Who remembers that stuff when there are posts to write and seeds to sow?
There are the tasks, I move from day to day. Mail off my racing medals to Medals-for-Mettle. And tasks that don’t seem pressing but need to get done or it will be too late, like putting in my summer garden.
Am starting to get a little antsy because I need to draft a column for magazine. That needs to get done today. But so does a trip to the bank, and dinner and I want to pick strawberries with the kids this week they are out of school.
The article promises to help us “get control of our to-do list — rather than the other way around.”
I’m not sure that applies to me. How can I be controlled by a list when so much is left undone each day? The only thing it controls is my stress level by causing it to skyrocket.
What about you and to-do lists? Help.
I use craft sticks, but there isn’t much space for writing. Index cards would give me more elbow room! Enjoy the sun.
Craft sticks would certainly pare down the list to what was most important. It’s funny, since I published the post I remembered something very important I needed to add. I have trouble even remembering what to I need to remember. And the sun was wonderful, Karen — but was there only for a day. No sun for me now.
I’m notorious for making lists and never consulting them. Seriously.
I do look at mine Carol but don’t seem to cross many items off. Maybe I underestimate the time it takes to do things — or the time I spend distracted. By my own doing or the needs of others.
We may very well have been separated at birth: I too have an addiction to both house porn and to-do lists. Any chance you are a Virgo – I often blame my to-do list mania on my zodiac sign. I’ve become accustomed to always having a list, it ebbs and flows with the busy-ness of life.
I’m not a Virgo — maybe I’m a Virgo rising. And you are right. Even the best intended list has to take a back seat to the stream of daily events.
This is a great idea!
My magazines pile up, too. Just this morning I read (while eating breakfast) the Oprah magazine from last November. Yes, I’m that far behind. And not just with O!
We moved last week and I don’t even want to admit how many To-Do lists I pitched into the recycle bucket…. I think what got my attention most was the fact that so many had the same things on them — not that I needed to do the same thing over and over, but I the fact that I lose my lists…and have to re-write them. Ugggghhhh…. I need a To-Do list that starts with “Put this list in a place where you will find it…”
Moving. That means boxes and boxes. I never marked my boxes. Ugh. Good luck Ruth.
It’s a treat. Whenever we travel and my husband is driving I catch up on my magazine reading.
I write to-do lists on scraps of paper which I can never seem to find again. It just makes me feel better to write stuff down even if I don’t actually get to finish it!
I make to do lists in writing on loose pieces of paper almost every day. But since my writing is hard to read sometimes I can’t decipher myself!
To-do lists are, if you ask me, part savior and part Satan. I like your card system, though. Since my near-total lack of organization means nothing has really worked for me, I might have to try it! CAN’T WAIT TO READ YOUR BOOK!!! (That’s my subtle vote to put that at the top of your list. Ahem.)
Thanks for the vote of confidence re the book Karen. I can’t wait to read it either — cause that means I will have actually gotten it down. 🙂