“The relationship between time and you is always one of master and slave. List making - it is your anchor, your harbor in the storm of life. Start each morning with your wish for the day, and then move right on in into your daily goal list. Remember to keep them in behavorial terms and be specific. Why? Because a specific list is a happy list. And don't forget it's chaos out there. We conquer that by taking control, setting priorities. Life cannot be based on whim. Those who fail to control whim are destined to be controlled by it.”
Frank Allen From the movie The Chaos Theory
Do you prepare a To-Do list? Daily? Weekly or Monthly? Yearly even? Do you finish all that is on the list? How do you come up with your list? Does your list follow a certain pattern? Is it a routine for you? Is it specific? Is it a happy list? Or maybe I should ask “Are you happy with your list?” I remember learning about making a to-do list when I was in 4th grade. We had these notebooks where the 2nd page would usually have this Time Schedule page. We were taught to write down what subjects we hour every hour including the am and pm breaks and lunch time which you write down break or lunch. Beyond the school hours, we were taught to write down which of our subjects we had homeworks and what time to schedule once we get home. On weekends, I had to write down what was up like if I had to do weekend homework or piano or ballet lessons and church. I remember our teachers would look and check them when they collect our notebooks to check if we did our designated homeworks. So I guess you could say that I learned making to-do lists at a young age. Of course as we grow older those lists would be less basic and have grown to more specific ones most especially our to-do lists at work. In my line of work as a training and development professional/consultant/manager, my lists are endless. I am sure yours are too. If you are handling people, you have assessments and performance evaluations to deal with, even job descriptions and responsibilities, productivity reports and added to that are incidents or grievance handling reports, promotion, termination papers. Do not forget your every day responsibilities of handling your department issues and concerns. Yes, to-do lists are never ending. You have to admit, though that a sense of happiness comes over you when you start writing down what you need to do because as Frank Allen said that “chaos is out there and we conquer that by taking control, setting priorities.“ We do need lists to go by our day and to never forget what we needs to be done and dealt with. Otherwise we forget and whatever it is we wanted to do remains undone or unfinished. When you check off that item on your checklist, does it not feel like you have accomplished something great even if it was just a simple task? A to-do list gives you a path to take that day and lets you know you cannot stray away from it. There is that inner voice that tells you “Yes, you need to deal with this today. You cannot put it off any longer.” Would you consider yourself uptight or obsessed if you have a to-do list? I do not think so. Having one just helps you deal with thing for the day and helps you focus on what needs to be done. Use your time efficiently and wisely because we all know time flies fast. Being organized is not a bad thing, you know. So do not freak out if you find yourself making a to-do list one of these days (if you are not the type) and just go with it. You might even discover that it helps you get things done faster because you know what to do and not waste time wondering what it was you needed to do. Grab a paper, grab a pen and start writing. You are not alone.
Frank Allen From the movie The Chaos Theory
Do you prepare a To-Do list? Daily? Weekly or Monthly? Yearly even? Do you finish all that is on the list? How do you come up with your list? Does your list follow a certain pattern? Is it a routine for you? Is it specific? Is it a happy list? Or maybe I should ask “Are you happy with your list?” I remember learning about making a to-do list when I was in 4th grade. We had these notebooks where the 2nd page would usually have this Time Schedule page. We were taught to write down what subjects we hour every hour including the am and pm breaks and lunch time which you write down break or lunch. Beyond the school hours, we were taught to write down which of our subjects we had homeworks and what time to schedule once we get home. On weekends, I had to write down what was up like if I had to do weekend homework or piano or ballet lessons and church. I remember our teachers would look and check them when they collect our notebooks to check if we did our designated homeworks. So I guess you could say that I learned making to-do lists at a young age. Of course as we grow older those lists would be less basic and have grown to more specific ones most especially our to-do lists at work. In my line of work as a training and development professional/consultant/manager, my lists are endless. I am sure yours are too. If you are handling people, you have assessments and performance evaluations to deal with, even job descriptions and responsibilities, productivity reports and added to that are incidents or grievance handling reports, promotion, termination papers. Do not forget your every day responsibilities of handling your department issues and concerns. Yes, to-do lists are never ending. You have to admit, though that a sense of happiness comes over you when you start writing down what you need to do because as Frank Allen said that “chaos is out there and we conquer that by taking control, setting priorities.“ We do need lists to go by our day and to never forget what we needs to be done and dealt with. Otherwise we forget and whatever it is we wanted to do remains undone or unfinished. When you check off that item on your checklist, does it not feel like you have accomplished something great even if it was just a simple task? A to-do list gives you a path to take that day and lets you know you cannot stray away from it. There is that inner voice that tells you “Yes, you need to deal with this today. You cannot put it off any longer.” Would you consider yourself uptight or obsessed if you have a to-do list? I do not think so. Having one just helps you deal with thing for the day and helps you focus on what needs to be done. Use your time efficiently and wisely because we all know time flies fast. Being organized is not a bad thing, you know. So do not freak out if you find yourself making a to-do list one of these days (if you are not the type) and just go with it. You might even discover that it helps you get things done faster because you know what to do and not waste time wondering what it was you needed to do. Grab a paper, grab a pen and start writing. You are not alone.