Since I got home from Zahara (a week ago last night) I’ve been GETTING THINGS DONE. And feeling very pleased about it, because there really was – and still is – a helluva lot of stuff to do. And so I have been writing daily to-do lists and taking great pleasure in checking things off them (sound familiar, Susan?).
This week I am not only back to daily yoga & pilates classes, I’m also doing extra workouts at the gym.Ā And I am trying to get my old students organised (though to be honest, I probably won’t see them again until October) as well as find some new students – both for myself and Nog. So we are working on the Restaurant English plan together. I’m also working on setting up some tapas tours with someone I met on Twitter who has a “bespoke holiday” biz in the UK.Ā And a guy I met last weekend (while helping alejna find an apartment for her September holiday in Sevilla) wants to meet with me about featuring Sevilla Tapas on his website. Meanwhile, I am thinking about what to offer in my online Sevilla Store. Because I need to line up at least a couple of jobs I can do from home … just in case.
Have also been doing a massive clean out of the apartment. I have been so ruthless about throwing old stuff out that I scarcely recognise myself. But it feels good! Like a fresh start. I think I’ve said here before that September always feels more like the new year than January does. And even more so this year.
So, do you love or hate to-do lists? I love ’em.
casa azahar 
Oooooh, I LOVE a list. And I also love a ruthless throwing out of accumulated stuff. Its so kathartic, a bit like shedding old skin. š
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I don’t know if I love or hate lists, but they are everywhere in my life, like hairballs.
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Heh… š
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I love lists but I always forget to make them. And I have been looking around my house thinking there is an awfully lot of stuff in here and not being able to contemplate throwing anything away. Except for clothes, I’ve been going through my clothes lately. But I never have to dust them.
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I find these days that the only way of accomplishing anything is to make a list.
Otherwise, I get to about 6pm before remembering all the things I’d intended to do that day – and didn’t.
Throwing out unwanted stuff is so therapeutic. I need to do some more of that too.
Is there much change in the tempratures between August and September, az? It must be easier to do stuff when it’s a bit cooler.
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Still VERY HOT here, Teuchter. And muggy. Can’t step away from in front of the fans for two minutes before bursting into sweat. But this too shall pass and before long I’ll be complaining about how it’s warmer outside than inside (December) and wearing my duvet around the house.
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My life is lists. I work as a quality manager in a large company and have so many different pulls on my time I have to make lists in order to prioritize my resources, or ‘staff’ as they like to be called š
One trick I learned a long time ago was the ABCD priority method. It’s so simple even I can apply it. Simply make a list and then go down it and decide if something is urgent and/or important and then mark it thus:
A: Urgent and Important
B: Urgent
C: Important, but not urgent
D: Neither important nor urgent
Then do your list from A to C. D’s can wait.
I like it because it takes seconds and really brings results.
Good to see you back on your feet and zooming about, but take some time just to rest each day huh? You are still in recovery and need to give your body some time to adjust.
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I find lists a real comfort. They help reduce stress by doing away with that “what am I forgetting to do?” thing. Well, as long as I remember to put something on the list before I forget it.
Back in my twenties I read a book about how to organise my time better and it had an A-B-C list that was somewhat different to yours, Craig. A-list items were long-term goals (learning a language, losing weight, travelling round the world), B-list things were important and difficult tasks (work projects, going to gym) , and C-list items were easy things that could usually be accomplished within about half an hour (household chores, errands). The idea was to devote equal time to each item if possible every day and avoid just doing the easy “immediate gratification” stuff.
For me it’s best to do A&B stuff in the morning and early afternoon. I tend to fill in with C-list items during the day or save them until the evening.
Last night Nog & I dragged two massive garbage bags full of STUFF down to the bins … what a good feeling that was. Ever since Ikea meets Guernica the little room Nog uses to teach (aka Lua’s Room) has been a total disaster area. So this weekend we dragged everything into the livingroom and got Lua’s Room looking very minimalist and tidy. Which meant we HAD to deal with the stuff in the livingroom as it was much more obviously IN THE WAY.
I’m tellin ya, two big boxes of saved fabrics and half-made garments went OUT without a second thought (even those cute unfinished silk pj’s) because, if I ever do settle down to sewing stuff again, everything in those boxes would be way down the list of priorities. OUT went old towels and sheets. And OUT went a whole massive file box of old crap I haven’t looked at in years.
What’s left now are more recent papers … this will be a B-list item as I have to sift through everything carefully and store them in a logical and easy-access kind of way.
And I also have my list of work & website stuff … again B-list for the most part. Which is coming along. I’m finally ready for more than just baby-steps, and that makes me smile.
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I don’t always like lists, but sometimes I need them.
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I looove lists, but then I am a control freak.
I find that the trick with lists is to not get frustrated with not completing something and instead, giving yourself permission to edit the list or move things as needed.
Item 1. Build Rome =>
continue tomorrow
Item 2. Take out trash V
etc.
I also use ticks and crosses so I know what I have done (for work I used to add date / time / other needed details) and for items that move I note that too, often with a ?
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the trouble with the “Throwing out unwanted stuff” concept is that first you have to realize that it is unwanted. My husband apparently has never met a thing he didn’t want, and has “sentimental” attachments to the oddest things — like drip hoses that were used in his parents’ garden. Good thing we have outbuildings.
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Well, I never said the two boxes of fabrics and half-finished garments were unwanted – far from it! When I first started going through the boxes I was overwhelmed by memories, and just loved the feel of the fabrics. It’s actually lucky I don’t have more storage space here otherwise I’d hold on to almost everything.
But OUT it all went. And this afternoon I’ve been going through stacks of papers and old bills and magazines and have so far filled three small garbage bags.
As a result (and after spending two hours at the gym this morning) I didn’t get a lot of List Stuff done. But it’s all progress! I don’t know about you guys, but I actually think better in a tidy room.
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I feel like scratching if the room is a mess. There are people’s houses I can’t even go to. (One of the reasons I miss my Albino Ex off and on is that, being blinder even than I am, he had to keep the place INCREDIBLY tidy…)
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I hate lists because I don’t even bother to look at them. AND invariably something comes up and screws the list up completely and I would just have to spend time making another list.
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Two big things checked off today’s list.
I got all the MƔlaga restaurants put up on my new tapas blog, Viva Las Tapas.
And Nog & I finally took off the bedroom door and, while he was away at a class, I drilled holes in the ceiling to mount a curtain rod for the pretty white cotton curtains I found at Ikea a couple of months ago (12 euros!). What an ordeal that was, but ever since I got The Headboard I haven’t been able to close the bedroom door and so it was just in the way. The room looks much more open now and the curtains are very light and airy.
I’m telling ya, it felt really good to check those two jobs off my list.
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I love lists (though as I say, to really get organised you need a spreadsheet š
Rog and I differ about where to tick things off though. He ticks each item at the end, i.e the right hand side, whereas I like to do ticks at the start, so that by running your eye down in a vertical line you can quickly see what’s been done and what’s still to do.
Simples!
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I agree there is also something very satisfying about spreadsheets. š
I also like ticking the items off at the start (left hand side). More uniform that way.
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