I love lists. Way back when I was a wee lass in college and I used to freak out at all the things I had to do, I'd call my mom, rant and rave about how chaotic my life was and she would always say the same thing, "Have you written everything down that you have to do?" My response was always the same, too, "No, but that's a good idea. I think I'll go do that now." And it worked. Every.time.
Fortunately I've learned to do that on my own now when life gets overwhelming. I still call my mom, however, to rant and rave; just for old times sake.
Here's how it usually plays out. This past weekend I could feel the tension in my brain mounting as I was frantically making a mental list and trying to keep track of all of the things that needed to get done on Saturday in time for a party we were having.
The list in my head seemed insurmountable to the point that when one of the kids would ask me if they could do something, like play Wii or read a book, I promptly told them that there is no way that there would be any time for that kind of stuff because we had WAY TOO MUCH TO DO! They'd be lucky if they had time to breathe.
Then I decided to sit down and put it all into a list so that no one forgot anything and everything got taken care of. With the help of some of the kids, we got all the chores down for everyone, I printed the list out and I'm not kidding you...we were all done by noon. It never ceases to amaze me how fast things get done when you have a written (or typed) list in front of you and you can cross things off as you get them done. In my mind, the tasks were never ending. On paper, they took a mere three hours.
So, do you make lists? Do you NEED to make lists, but don't? Have you found that they help you the way I've seen them help me? I hope so. If you haven't done it in awhile, dump the contents of your brain onto a piece of paper and get on to thinking about something else! It is a very freeing experience. Unless you're like me, however, and you get hung up on what your list looks like. More on that tomorrow.
God Bless!
