The Dreaded “To-Do” List
We all have them. The dreaded to-do list. There was probably a time in your life, prior to having a family and homeschooling and working your own business, that your to-do list was a nice little thing that helped you remember that your best friend’s birthday was next week. For many busy mom’s I know now, their to-do list is crucial to their day-to-day survival. If picking up Suzy at violin lessons at 3:00 is not on the list, Suzy will be sitting with her violin teacher for many hours to come. Some of these lists are so long, that only 10% of the things to do actually get done on any given day. The other items get rolled to the next day and the list grows exponentially. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
Here is another way to approach the to-do list. First of all, do you remember the family calendar and the individual day-timers that I wrote about in the last post? It is here that all the appointments and scheduling need to happen. Your daily homeschool time, music lessons, doctor’s appointments, etc…should all be on the calendars. Your to-do list is for something different.
Just by removing the scheduling piece, your to-do list should shrink noticably in size. Now you need a new notebook that’s fresh and clean with no scribbling in it. You want to have 3 sections. Some people divide each page into three columns. Some people have three distinct sections of the notebook. Do what works for you. One section is for things that have to be done today and are very specific to today. For example, send flowers for aunt Hilda’s birthday tomorrow or sew Charlie’s costume for the play dress rehersal tomorrow. It is crucial that you write in this section only things that must be done today and that you know you can get done today. There should be no carry-over into tomorrow.
The second section is for things that have to get done soon, usually in this next week or so. so. List those things in order of priority and try to do one or two of them per day. Add to this list as you need to. Some examples might be to call the phone company to change your phone plan to a better one, or contact other parents in your homeschool co-op to discuss carpooling to gymnastics after the holidays.
Your third section is the long term list. This will include things like cleaning out the hall closet, or painting the third bedroom. As you become more organized in all aspects of your life, you will find you have time for these types of projects. Each week you can look in this section and if it seems reasonable, move one of these projects into your first or second section.
You can organize your home business to-do list in the same manner. As you do this for home and business you will find yourself becoming more efficient, hopefully calmer and definitely less overwhelmed. Getting started is the key. A clean fresh notebook and an hour or two of quiet time should get you on your way.
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