The "To-Do" List

I have been trying for the past two months to not be so anal with my time. If you remember earlier this month I wrote how I kept a 'to-do' list for just about everything. Yes, I was a good Franklin Covey student. I gave up the idea that I needed to track everything and for the past 6 weeks have tried to organize myself in a week to week fashion rather than a day to day method.

It works to a point, but I have found that I am missing to many things. On Monday when I write my "to-do" list for the week I am ready to go, and then Wednesday comes along and my 'to-do' list completely changes and I frustrate myself that I didn't think of that earlier. Bad spiral I get in too.

I thought it was a little funny and probably to insightful that this past weekend when I was up north with my folks they gave me a late Christmas gift (they had just put the Christmas tree away and found it under the tree skirt). The gift was a 365 day note pad of "to-do" lists! Yes, my folks had picked on the fact that I was an anal as I knew I was!

So today I resolve to go back to a method that hopefully organizes me a little more, makes me feel a little more confortable with what I have to do, but also reminds me to lighten up a bit.

Last night I sat down while the dog was eating and wrote my 'to-do' list for the rest of the week.

This morning when I got into work I was able to start checking things off the list as I worked one by one through what I needed to do to feel some sense of control and structure.

I than reminded myself that this was just part of who I am. I do not need to write a list for everything and it is okay to go to the grocery store without a complete list of everything you need.

It's the same thing with life. If we are always looking for an order that things should happen, we will miss out on the possibilities of the day. It is okay to have an idea and direction, but keep that bottom half of the page/life open to what comes up. There is always a Wednesday in our week, so embrace the fact that growth and humility come from the unexpected, not always the planned.

Have a great Thursday.