List, lists and more lists seems to be all my days consist of. I have a list full of things I need to do at home. I have a list of ideas I would like to turn into a reality. I have a list for work that needs to be done on my website. I even have a list of future goals that I have planned for myself. To say I am a planner is an understatement. To say that I need a list to not only make sure I don’t forget anything I also need a list to well….function.
Though lists are great and oh how I love them. Sometimes I have to take a step back because honestly the lists become to much. They start to overwhelm me. Once that happens the watch out because I shut down and nothing gets done. Friends we can get to a point where we no longer control our lists. Instead they control us. This is never a good thing. If we allow our lists to control us then we are not allowing ourselves to live life in the processes of achieving awesomeness.
Have no fear as always I have a few tips that I am going to share with you to continue using lists and not going crazy doing so.
- Make Smaller Lists: That’s right I said it. On any typical day my lists can be a mile long. If I write the whole thing out I can totally become overwhelmed. So I break my list up into parts. I have a morning section , an afternoon section and a night time section. This keeps me from seeing the whole thing together and it keeps me in from thinking I am never going to see the end of the list.
- Stop Focusing On What Isn’t Done: I often times get so discouraged when I look at my lists at the end of the night and count the things that did not get done. So much so that often times I think that I have totally missed my mark for the day. I once had a friend who reminded me not everything we have accomplished for the day is on the list. I bet your list doesn’t include all the times you changed a diaper, answered the phone calls, kissed away a boo boo, took time to read a story or even snuggled. Sure it doesn’t it only covers the things that we thought just had to be done. If you were to count up all the things that you actually accomplish all day long then I bet you would fine that your Ta Das for the day far out weights your To Dos.
- Mark The Things Most Important And Tackle Them First: Typically I like to tackle tasks that I think are going to take the longest first and then go from there. But, if I have something really important that has to be done I will work on that first. So dead lined projects (for example) are top on my list ( for me they are on my morning list).
- Celebrate Your Success: I had a girlfriend call me one time and I had been sick for a week. My kitchen sink was over run with dishes (I hand wash), laundry was over flowing from the hamper and well we won’t even talk about the rest of the house. The truth was I was so sick if was taking all the energy I had just to tend to our 4 children. I start to cry as I was confessing my “dirty” secret to my friend. It is then she asked me: “Did you tell the children you love them?” “Where the children put to bed clean and fed?” Did you pray with and for them? ” ” Did you tell them you love them?” Well of course I did those things. This is when she replied “Then you had a successful day”. Every night I try to reward myself for my successes. I will eat a bowl of ice cream, read a book, watch a show I want or take an extra long shower. The fact of the matter is sometimes we are just way to hard on ourselves.
So what are some ways that you keep lists from controlling you?
