Do you write ‘to do’ lists? Do you actually do what’s on them?
I used to write lists all the time. I didn’t always get everything done on them by the end of the day but then I’d just transfer that stuff over to the next day’s list. And then somewhere along the line I just stopped writing them.
But in an attempt to become a more disciplined and organised little orange blossom I am going to get myself a notebook today and start writing lists again. And I’m going to include everything like ‘write novel, lose 25 kilos’, as well as stuff like ‘buy catfood’ – just to remind myself to keep working on the long-term goal things too.
Do you think it’ll work? Does it work for you?
casa azahar 
It works for me, but only at the office. At home, it fails me completely – possibly because I don’t have to do things at home unless the mood takes me.
Good luck…
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Well, I think it is of vital importance to get a very cute notebook for this exercise, so I’m off to do that now. 😉
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I really should start carrying a notebook. I’ve always been scatty, but my medication gives me major short-term memory problems.
The only times I’ve made lists have been when I was ill and I kept recording all the great ideas I kept having (or thought I kept having) so that I could get back to them later.
Recently I read a rather good book, Stuart: A Life Lived Backwards about a homeless guy’s life told Mememento-style (ie starting from the present…what happened before that…and before that…etc.) The guy was what is described as ‘chaotic homeless.’ Anyway – his short-term memory had been fucked by drink and drugs, so he’d lerned to keep a notebook. Only…because of his chaotic lifestyle, this was full of crossings out and re-schedulings as he missed appointments, changed his priorities, etc.
By the way…how do you do bold and italics on this site?
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using xhtml tags
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Ta!
All fairly obvious…only in some places they use square brackets.
Let’s not fall victim to the hooto smileys plague, though.:roll:
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Well, I’ve got my new blue notebook which is seriously cute! Also got a new blue pen to go with it. 🙂
The notebook has colour-coded sections so I can have one bit as a ‘weekly list’ and then another part for the day-to-day stuff. 😎
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I’m also a list maker. But I am having a hard time sticking to the lists these days. Especially the extremely long ones.
I haven’t had a seriously cute notebook for years. That’s a grand idea, az. I need a notebook so cute I’ll just have to write in it. 🙂
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Many years ago I read a book with the unfortunate title of How To Organise Your Time And Your Life – it was really much more interesting than the title suggests.
It was about prioritizing things into three lists – A B & C. A-list stuff would be long-term goals like writing a novel, learning a language. The B list would include things like work-related projects or a get-fit programme. List C is all the day-to-day things that need doing, such as doing the washing up, buying cat food, etc.
The premise of this book was that most people choose to do C-list stuff first because even though these activities are very basic they can be done with little time and effort and still result in a feeling of accomplishment, however slight.
B-list things tend to come next out of personal necessity, though they are more difficult than C-list activities.
And of course A-list stuff might take months or even years to complete, which is what makes them harder to stick with as we don’t usually get a sense of ‘immediate gratification’ to help keep us working on them.
The idea is to give as much time as is possible to every activity on each list, perhaps not on a daily basis but at least on a weekly one.
I admit I’m going a bit ‘list crazy’ these days, but it’s just because I feel I am lacking structure in my life right now, especially as I don’t have any English classes this month. And I’ve seen how easy it is to just let the days slip by without actually accomplishing anything at all.
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I am a list-maker. In fact, I make lists to remind me to update *other* lists. There are some things, like billing dates, appointments, etc., that I simply cannot and will not remember if I don’t write them down.
The only one I’m truly adamant about maintaining is the grocery shopping list. I always take a grocery list with me to the store, with everything arranged geographically according to its location in the store. If I don’t, I will Forget To Get Something. Usually something like toilet paper or coffee…
I used to keep a LOT more lists, but then I would misplace them and forget to do anything.
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I don’t make lists since I am a sanguine personality (see Personality Plus). However, I OUGHT to do make lists.
My life is more braided than a straight line: In order to do project x I have to do y and while I am doing that I notice z and go off to do it and wind up doing a and b, then I remember that I had to do y and by the end of the day I have completely forgotten what x was.
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Yeah lists are big for me. Especially at work (and before when I was in grad school). It lets me at least list a bunch of crazy ideas. Even if I don’t get to them, when I look back at the list I’ll remember what sparked the idea and that helps my thought processes.
And there also just the regular lists to do mundane things. When I’m feeling lazy, I’ll start working on all the “C-list” items. When I’m feeling the crunch, and/or motivated I ignore the little things and attack the “A-list” items.
Actually, my best semester at undergrad (I pulled a 4.0 GPA) was probably the results of a “list” I made at the beginning of the semester about what was important to me.
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Twice now I’ve made a list of *things I’d like to change* for the place I’ve moved into and twice I’ve had a laugh looking at it when the year is up and I’ve finished. Things like *Install full body shower with massage heads* have become a single *rainfall* shower head mounted higher in the stall. In one place *hardwood floors* became *steam clean the carpet* (yes, Az I know how you love hardwood floors). Some of it has been financial but most has been that the list was made before I had a good look at the problem and figured it couldn’t be done. I find lists in general a lot like that, they are past expressions of unresearched desires. But I’ll make another one for this place, of course.
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“How To Organise Your Time And Your Life” — I think I have this book, given to me by a boyfriend who says it helped him. If it did, I didn’t notice it! Getting married helped him a lot more! LOL
Maybe I should keep a list — I’v been having entirely too many refrigerator moments lately!
D
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We’re attempting to avoid those moments by having our nine boxes on the fridge door. 😉
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