To-Do: on Tasks

Are you a list maker? Some might call me a hardcore list-maker, lol. But I need to ensure I don't forget to do certain things. And that might have stemmed from my years-long habit of jotting notes and making sketches when I had project ideas but didn't have time in the moment to execute them. My

first and foremost!

pet peeve is thinking of something important to me and forgetting to do it, or even forgetting what it was I wanted to do.

 I have a somewhat obsessive need for progress and to feel I've checked things off my list(s). But these days, the lists are a combination of lists on paper, lists in an app, mental lists, and sketches. Those apply across personal and professional goals. 

I jot ideas for things I need to update on my website on a pad near my computer. I make lists on my phone in an app called Color Note for shopping, social content ideas, books I want to read, things I'm planting in my garden, quotes I like, and more. 

                                        

           the ColorNote app on my phone

I make sketches in the sketchbooks I keep tucked everywhere for project ideas. I have whiteboards and chalkboards strategically placed around home and my studio for quick reminders. And of course I use physical and digital calenders with reminders. As hectic as this might sound, it all gives me such a sense of calm knowing that I've trapped all the fleeting thoughts and ideas where they cannot escape until I'm ready for them.

I feel better when I've knocked things off the dockets and shrunk those lists. I'm more prone to give myself free time to read, exercise, nap, etc. if I feel I'm on track with the tasks I want done. 

While a lot of my lists are comprised of things I look forward to doing, some are not so exciting but necessary. Who doesn't have those on their list? When it comes to being motivated (especially looking at a crazy amount of tasks), I have a couple of tactics I use to help myself to get things done. 

The first is picking one or more small or easy tasks to complete. Getting those done shrinks the list and gives me the boost of confidence and sense of accomplishment to charge into the more dreaded to-dos. The second (somewhat obnoxious) approach is placing an item that needs to be addressed somewhere where it poses a bit of an obstacle to regular activities. It works, because within a few days, I've gotten tired enough of working around that item and completed the task. That's usually something like stitching up a hole in a clothing item, cleaning or maintaining an appliance or tool, or something along those lines. 

dreaded task: cleaning
paintbrushes

The other tactic I regularly employ with myself (sometimes it's like I'm pandering to the child within) is playing music while doing different dreaded tasks. I play a specific song or songs for a task every time. (Ex.: It takes the length of Sarah Vaughn's "April in Paris" to clean my shower). So I know that when it's time to do that task, it will take the length of the song(s) or less to complete it. Plus, doesn't music make almost any kind of work more bearable?

There's one more, but I think a lot of people use it: the reward system. I tell myself if I can complete one more step or wait till after I finish certain things, I get a treat. Whether it's a food item, mindless scroll time on my phone, or buying myself something, lol, it works. And I find myself toughing it out and completing more now rather than later better than I expect when I tell myself I'm getting a treat. Sometimes the only real treat is not having to deal with the task later! 

It might be organized insanity. I read somewhere that we process 100 (give or take) times the information humans did back in the 50's. And I know in these current times many of us are trying to accomplish so much more than we used to. Either way, this is how I manage it. How do you handle lots of things to do?