I might be the only person who, when faced with a dauntingly long list has a tendancy to procrastinate. Once the list is started then success seems unlikely. I have thought about not writing a list and then failure wouldn't be inevitable but I know that without the list I would just go round in circles, worrying that I had loads to do but not getting any of it done.
So, today I thought I'd make a second list; a things I've done list and I put everything on it. It started like this:
1. Read 2 chapters of my book
2. Looked at Facebook and Twitter
3. Watched a video (from pintrest) of a teacher using Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to make a musical.
4. Deleted and read e-mails
5. Got out of bed
6. Showered, did vocal exercises, cleaned teeth, got dressed.
7. Walked dog
8. Fed dog.
Without my 'Done' list then I would have just been in a position of failure. It would have been 9am and I'd have done nothing but as it was at 9am I'd done 8 things. At the moment of writing this blog, I currently have 61 items on my 'done' list and I'm feeling quite proud of my acheivements. There are lots of things on it that I wouldn't normally think to count but things that nevertheless take time like 'made and ate lunch' and there are the things that I did to avoid some of the big things on my first list like 'made banana bread with overripe bananas' or 'washed kitchen floor' but the amazing thing is that as I added more items to my 'done' list I felt less like a failure and more able to tackle some of the 'to do' items.
There are only 7 things left out of the original twenty one. If I hadn't done sixty one things today though, I might consider that a failure but it feels like a real acheivement.
I might market the 'done' list. I could write a book, go on lecture tours, wear white flowing dresses with flowers in my hair and explain the secret of my serenity. Oh no....wait....I've still got seven things to do on today's list and there will be more on tomorrow's list........... PANIC.
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