Master of Lists

Not very long ago my good friend Kendra and I were hanging out and she told me that she had been feeling a bit down and out of sorts. The previous night she had some inspiration during a bout of insomnia and decided that these feelings stemmed from constantly caring for everyone else and not spending enough time on herself. I can understand that. She told me that she decided that she needed to organize her life and make room for the things she wants to accomplish. This led her to create her "Master List". Her list was separated into three categories: Home, Self, and Things for Organization. I love lists. In fact I love lists so much that I usually make lists and then forget about them, only to make the same list again and again. There are some To Do lists that I actually write out and use. If Andrew wants me to get some thing done I just tell him "Put it on my list," and if I haven't started a To Do list, he starts one for me. What a great husband I have! I actually like that he is willing to write things down for me and not get frustrated that I a.) can't just remember what he tells me, and b.) can't write it down for myself.

I have written the equivalent of a "Master List" several times in my life. Usually it results in a huge ink spill of mental dumpage that encompasses every desire I've ever had, from learning how to sew to drinking X amounts of water every day. Here is an example of such a list that I wrote in March of 2010:

(as a side note, I glanced at my list and noticed that I spelled noticeable wrong... just to be sure, I typed it in the Google search bar, my go-to spellchecker, and this was the third result down... what the heck is wrong with the Japanese?)

As you may notice, I started off with some organizational pattern in mind, the triangle. I had my categories: Spirit, Mind, Body, then I changed my diagram into a hexagram (why did my master list become the Star of David?). I added three more points: Family, Friends, Work. Then it all became a free form hierarchical mind map. I don't think that I ever looked at it again until this week. Kendra isn't the only one that needs to get things organized!

When Andrew and I were moving I found a bunch of mismatched paper scraps and old church bulletins with lines of cramped writing. These were notes I'd taken in church or at different church meetings. I threw them away because I was so disgusted with myself. If I had one place that I wrote all those thoughts down, then I might benefit from them. I could go back and reread things, maybe even implement them into my life. I shouldn't have been so hasty. I wish I had sifted through them and kept the ideas that I liked. Oh well, you know what they say about hindsight.

I wish that my mind map had looked like this:

Maybe I would feel justified in my decision to throw off societal pressure to join the workforce and become an artist, but no, my lists are usually not pretty and often full of misspellings!

Last night I decided to write down my goals once again. Kendra's "Master List" has her overarching goals that she then looks at while creating her daily list. I often have a list of  "big picture" goals that I break down into daily/weekly tasks. These in turn become a rigorous schedule that seems too daunting to attempt. I tried to avoid this last night. I tried to just write down key things that I want to do and that I know I can accomplish:

I did end up putting down useless details. How on earth would I forget to wash my face, brush my teeth, or floss before bed? I think I put stuff like that on all my lists so I wont fall short. I know that I will always have things that I can cross off. It's like my sneaky list habit of adding things that I've already done to my To Do list, just to cross them off. Lets face it, I love crossing stuff off as much as I love making lists. In fact, now I am going to cross off "Blog" on my list! I am already on my way to becoming The Best Willow That I Can Possibly Be (yes, blogging will help me achieve that... don't question my methods, I already feel like a better person, er, ok, maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but I did get something done, yea!).