The Power of the List

I have a secret.

I have this amazing ability to be aimlessly, utterly unproductive. I'm talking still wearing pajamas and haven't brushed my hair at 5:00 unproductive. Usually that occurs on Fridays because I don't work on Fridays. I can sleep in and do what I want because I don't have anywhere to be. Despite the fact that it seems near impossible to not get in a workout and get lots of stuff accomplished on a day when I don't work....it happens.

I started to get really bothered by my lack of motivation and the increasing number of Fridays that passed without getting anything accomplished. I felt like I was wasting precious days of having the apartment to myself, yet not doing anything remotely useful.

I decided I need an intervention.

Enter: the list.

Making a list has this incredible power over me because I crave the satisfaction of passing my permanent black sharpie over an item that I have completed. I go so far as to write "extra" things on the list, like make the bed & shower,  just so I can have more to cross off. Those kinds of things should be a given, yet it feels so good to cross them off when they're done.

Yesterday I made a list of all things I wanted to get accomplished which included grocery shopping, returning bottles and getting more water from the beverage store, reading a an incredibly long and boring chapter in my text for homework, working out, taking out the trash,  cleaning the bathrooms, and doing laundry. Whew! Lots of things to get done, but I crossed off each and every one! It felt so good to have a productive day and I give all the credit to my little list.

It sucks to feel disorganized and unroductive.

It feels great to look at a list with every item crossed off, knowing that the laundry is clean folded and put away, that the fridge is full of groceries, the apartment is clean, the toilets have been scrubbed, the homework is done, my body has worked hard, and I can look back at my day and know that it was not a waste.

I love the power of the list.