THE BIG TO DO

The big to do list

I tackle it with gusto

It NEVER gets done

In college i discovered a book called, How to get control of your time and your life by Alan Laiken. It helped me set goals, make lists, prioritize tasks, and get things done in the world. All this was necessary to organize and orchestrate an external life in the "real world." 

An unfortunate side effect of this productivity, is i still, 40 years later, am making lists, setting priorities, and trying to accomplish everything on my to do list. With each thing i accomplish it seems that one or two more things get added to the list, thus, i never finish the "to do" list. How does this leave one feeling when you can never get to the end, never reach the goal, never breathe easy, never feeling completely relaxed, never done.

We don't need to give up our goals, priorities, and lists of things to do. We simply need to reframe them (See Paul Watzlawick et. al.'s book Change: Principles of problem formation and problem resolution). Meaning, instead of seeing what's left to do on our list at the end of the day, let us contemplate what we've accomplished, give ourselves some credit for our labors, step back from the list and look at a job well done, savoring the pleasure of the work, energy, and relationships that went into it. How grateful we can be to engage in work that is meaningful, that benefits others, that in some way makes life more wonderful--THAT can be our focus if we allow it.

THINGS TO DO LIST

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