lists are boring
I recently started putting things like “finish James Patterson book” on my weekend lists because all I was doing was chores.
I loved the change so much that I now regularly put fun things like “phone _____ for a lovely, long chat” and “paint fingernails” on my lists just to jazz them up.
lists are a bind because they have tons of items on them
Well, that depends on the type of list.
A master list and a checklist often do have tons of things on them but a daily to-do list really should have no more than about 6 items.
I’ve shared before how when I only have 6 items on my to-do list, I get through them all easily but when I try to be SuperWoman and add lots more, I get even less than 6 done!
I showed a coaching client my diary once and she was amazed that I almost always put less than 6 things on my list.
When you find the right list, your life will change
No, no, no! The list is only the tool.
I used to subscribe to tons of productivity sites and really, many of them were all about the perfect tool.
A tool is only something to help you get something else done.
Many people are so intent on creating the perfect list or finding the perfect planner that they get into an analysis paralysis mentality.
Because when you’re obsessing about the perfect to-do list, you stop actually doing the things on the list, right?
The truth is it doesn’t matter what you use as long as you get it down somewhere – whether on a post-it note, in a gorgeous notebook or in your phone.
So how am I doing with my lists?
I still use a weekly list and take off up to 6 items (sometimes a lot less) to do in a day.
My new favourite thing is doing a mind-map list for my weekly planning. I do a spoke for each area of my life – husband, babies, house, work, business, health and fitness, etc. And then, off each spoke, I make new mini-branches with things I have to do.
