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To do, or not to do

October 8, 2008
posted by Barbara | View Comments

fffoundpostitnote.jpgThat is always the question. I’ve never been one to actually DO all the things on my to-do list; I just like making them. Most of the time, I find something to do that’s more fun or higher priority, so the list becomes inconsequential. I hear you asking, “Why bother making it?”

Because I can’t sleep at night. My brain runs constantly at 100 mph, thinking of the stuff I have to do. I live an action packed life. For the next few months, I’m booked solid. Improv classes, play rehearsal, rehabbing my busted up knee, re-learning how to play roller derby, traveling for work, three weddings, the list goes on… this is all in addition to the normal day to day stuff, like spending time with my cats so they don’t eat my face while I’m dozing on the couch. So I started making to-do lists before I go to bed. They’re kind of like the worry dolls my mom gave me as a child.

You know how sometimes, you have a full day scheduled ahead of you, and say to yourself, “I’ll squeeze that in, if I have time”? I say that all the time! Then I feel guilty about not squeezing it in and instead spending my time doing something I really want to do, like watching Beetlejuice in my underwear and eating ice cream. So, right next to my to-do list, I make a DO NOT DO list. I give myself permission NOT to do my physical therapy for a day, NOT to go to the gym, NOT to go to roller derby practice, and NOT to work on learning my lines. Because let’s face it- who has the time? My to-do list is still a zillion miles long, but I have four less things to worry (and feel guilty) about. And it’s not like those things are going to disappear if I don’t do them on this one particular day. My worries will still be there the next day. I’ll worry about them then.

What’s on your to-do list?

–Barbara

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://www.sixthman.net Andy

    I used to put each idea on a post it note and organize them to cover my desk like a grid. I would randomly select one, get it done and throw it away. I would not let myself add a new post it note until there was a space available.

    Sometimes it would take so long to get something done that I would have to re-write it because the adhesive had worn.

    That was 14 years ago. Like most things in my past, “It made sense at the time.”

  • http://www.sixthman.net Steve

    I picked up a tip from Tim Ferris, ROWE extraordinaire: before you go to bed, get a small piece of paper, and write down 3 goals that you need to accomplish the next day. If you accomplish all three goals, you’ll feel like you had a successful day. And the number shall be three. No more, no less…Five is RIGHT OUT!

    If you do a list on a computer, you’ll keep adding to it, make it look more daunting, and you’ll end up spending more time on the list than actually doing something with it!

  • http://www.sixthman.net/blog/2008/11/19/the-life-list-part-1/ The Sixthman Blog » Blog Archive » The Life List, Part 1

    [...] Making lists has been a reoccurring theme in my life in the past few months- I’m not sure why, because I’m horrible at making them, and I can’t stick to them. [...]

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