This post was shared with you, my viewers, on January 17, 2013 (just a little over a year ago). I still make lists. Today’s list which is not completed includes Folding Clothes, Ironing, Acupuncture Appointment, Watching Grandson in a.m., taxes, send emais that need to go out, set up spreadsheets for my book sales/expenses in 2014, and doing my tweets. As you can see not much got done and this list is just going to roll over and add to the already large list for tomorrow. I am tired. My acupuncturist visit has left me tired and bruised on my back from the cupping process to ease the back pain I have had since contracting the flu bug. Sometimes I don’t know why I bother making these lists except that I can see that I did manage to accomplish something during the day.
Why do I set myself up for failure? Yes, I am one of those people. I am a “list maker”. I have been for as long as I can remember. Maybe it started out when I was first working and had to have a list of things needed to be done during the day/week/month. Then it carried over into my home life. Or maybe I was a list maker before and carried it into my work life. Either way, I am one of “those people”.
While I was the Environmental Health Center in Dallas I would spend each evening before going to bed going over mountains of paperwork trying to decide what antigens I should test the next day, how many I had left to test and what number I needed to test each day in order to get done and more importantly get back home. I also had on my list my IV therapy, sauna therapy, doctor appointments, etc. The kink in this was that I never knew how many antigens I could test on a particular day. Some days I would have an extremely difficult antigen (aspergillus mold for example) and spend most of the morning working on getting my neutralizing end point only to not find it and end up having to go home only partially testing a single antigen. My therapist worked with me over and over to try to make a weekly list of things I “would like” to test and then just randomly pick them once I was in the testing room in an effort to release me from the panic when I would get home and be so angry that I didn’t finish everything on my list.
I am better at list making than I was but I still tend to overload the list and set myself up for failure. I can’t totally get rid of my list. Today’s list for example is:
Laundry (two loads at least)
Folding Clothes (laundry above will add to what I already have to do)
Phone meeting on information from the publishing company. (Only because she didn’t call me)
Balance Checkbook
- Tag Blanket
Work on blog post (this may be done soon)
Ironing (huge pile there)
Start sewing on quilts for children’s hospital (haven’t sewn any in a while) (I ended up sewing a simple tag blanket. I had some remnants of fleece and scraps of ribbon and rick rack. The picture is shown above.)
Pay Bills
Set up online bill pay
Try a new gluten-free recipe
Clean one pantry cabinet
Work on taxes for 2012
While this list doesn’t seem HUGE, I am not going to get everything done. I am tired and invariably something will come up that will change my day and force more things on my list to not get crossed off. Sometimes in an effort to trick myself, I add things on my list that are easy to cross off or if I end up doing something else, I add it to my list just so I can cross something off (take out trash, make bed, etc.). It always looks better when something is crossed off and you can feel a sense of accomplishment at seeing that line scratched through a list item.
How many of you are one of “those people”, the list makers? I would love to hear from you. How do you make your lists? Do you prioritize items on the list or just plunge in and do what you feel like doing first? Do you, like me, add things you have done that weren’t on the list just so you can have something to scratch off? Are you lists primarily for work tasks or do you throw in household chores? Do you use one of those pretty “To Do Today” tablets? Please let me know.
It will soon be time to start dinner. Too late to start working on taxes, clean a pantry cabinet or try out a new recipe. By this time of the day, I am done! I will be back later to comment on the comments to this post. I guess these items will be added to tomorrow’s list and I will once again try to get them done.
allergictolifemybattle 
1) Yep, me too. Forever. I don’t remember anything unless I write it down.
2) My lists are ALWAYS too long. I never finish.
3) I can’t prioritize and schedule well. I am always looking for the perfect system that will somehow make me organized despite being ill and brain-foggy. Does it exist? Probably not …
4) Something always distracts me from doing the items on the list. In fact, I am reading this post about lists to procrastinate finishing the stuff on my list.
5) My doctors’ appointments, acupuncture appointments, physical therapy appointments, etc. I keep in a small, lightweight appointment book I carry with me. My regular to-do list I keep on my phone because I can dictate it. The stuff to do each day I write into my food diary next to the food.
6) I can’t imagine having to choose what substances I wanted to test as you did with the antigens. That must’ve been really hard.
7) Before I got sick, I bought a very expensive system called a Franklin Planner, based on “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. It did not make me a highly effective person. It was just too big and intimidating and heavy, so I ended up not taking it anywhere. Of course, I did not remember to write “Return Franklin Planner to store,” so I was stuck with the thing.
8) Okay, I should finish the stuff on my list for today. Have a nice night 🙂
My life has become rather dull since retiring & developing MG. Your list is way too long! I realize there are 7 days to a week, but there are 4 weeks to a month. Ironing is one of those tiring jobs that should be saved for a day when little else is scheduled. Taxes shouldn’t be done on the same day as bill paying. Too much mental stress!
I have learned to pace myself. Franklin Planner is a good thing, but probably not for you. Look at your chores and plan them out for a month.
When the list is so long you can’t get it done, it makes you depressed and feeling like you’re no good. Those kind of feelings no one needs. Stress and depression will always aggravate our problems.
Yes – the list is always too long and a lot of it doesn’t get done. The last few days I haven’t even written a list and things are getting done I just can’t look at it and see what I missed.