It's Been 1001 Days!
Almost three years ago I published a big "to-do" list...a list of 101 items to be done in 1001 days.
Today is the 1001st day! It seems like we should have cake to celebrate! Or maybe I should make something on my list so I can cross it off...like homemade cinnamon rolls.
It has been good to revisit my list and update it and think about the last three years. Gladly, a few things have become unimportant...like having my teeth whitened and getting a new hair style. About a quarter of the items are still "In Progress"...like painting the fence and reading certain books. There is an end in sight, but I'm not quite there yet. And I realize that some of my "In Progress" items can and should always be in progress...always trying new recipes, always visiting family, reading the Bible, praying for others, camping, exploring, learning. Always in progress! That is life...always building or repairing or making the time.
I actually finished about half of the items on my list. I'm not sure if that would be considered successful or not, but I am pretty satisfied with it. It represents a lot of aspects of my life and shows a bit of how I have spent the last three years. I also see the benefit in making goals or plans that need time to complete or need to be done repetatively. There is benefit in recording small tasks; tasks you know you can't get to today or this week. How about sometime in the next three years? Yes, maybe in the next three years!
Now I am asking questions like, if I visited my grandma 10 months per year, but my goal was to visit monthy, did I complete the task? Did I fail? If I wanted a monthly "family night" and never managed to formally say "Kids, tonight is family night so you better have fun!" yet we spent evenings eating dinner and watching movies and playing games and knitting, do I get to mark the item as Done. And why am I asking such ridiculous questions when what we have done is infinately more important than using the strike-through function on my computer.
But all that doesn't change the fact that I am a list maker. I need them. I thrive on them. I love them! But I promise, if I write your name on a list and say "call them" it doesn't deminish you as a person or the sentiment...it just helps my brain to not forget...it helps the desire to be a reality in this crazy life with kids and dogs and a lot of interrupations.
So now I am in a predicament. What do I do with this list of 101 items? Do I keep working on it? Do I start a new one? Do I set out on a new path with a new way of list making?
Today is the 1001st day! It seems like we should have cake to celebrate! Or maybe I should make something on my list so I can cross it off...like homemade cinnamon rolls.
It has been good to revisit my list and update it and think about the last three years. Gladly, a few things have become unimportant...like having my teeth whitened and getting a new hair style. About a quarter of the items are still "In Progress"...like painting the fence and reading certain books. There is an end in sight, but I'm not quite there yet. And I realize that some of my "In Progress" items can and should always be in progress...always trying new recipes, always visiting family, reading the Bible, praying for others, camping, exploring, learning. Always in progress! That is life...always building or repairing or making the time.
I actually finished about half of the items on my list. I'm not sure if that would be considered successful or not, but I am pretty satisfied with it. It represents a lot of aspects of my life and shows a bit of how I have spent the last three years. I also see the benefit in making goals or plans that need time to complete or need to be done repetatively. There is benefit in recording small tasks; tasks you know you can't get to today or this week. How about sometime in the next three years? Yes, maybe in the next three years!
Now I am asking questions like, if I visited my grandma 10 months per year, but my goal was to visit monthy, did I complete the task? Did I fail? If I wanted a monthly "family night" and never managed to formally say "Kids, tonight is family night so you better have fun!" yet we spent evenings eating dinner and watching movies and playing games and knitting, do I get to mark the item as Done. And why am I asking such ridiculous questions when what we have done is infinately more important than using the strike-through function on my computer.
But all that doesn't change the fact that I am a list maker. I need them. I thrive on them. I love them! But I promise, if I write your name on a list and say "call them" it doesn't deminish you as a person or the sentiment...it just helps my brain to not forget...it helps the desire to be a reality in this crazy life with kids and dogs and a lot of interrupations.
So now I am in a predicament. What do I do with this list of 101 items? Do I keep working on it? Do I start a new one? Do I set out on a new path with a new way of list making?
Comments
You are a different person now than the one who made that list ~3 yrs ago, so its time to take what you want from that list and move on to another "now" list. {time for me to go get to my list for today : )