Lists & schedules & processes, oh my
Jun. 13th, 2007 07:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
julietI have a lot of lists. I have 2 ongoing todo lists, one for home, & one for work, & then I have a lot of other lists for things like books I want to read, things I've thought of, the Giant Packing List...
Occasionally though I start to wonder whether the lists are causing or reducing stress. On the one hand: Writing Things Down saves my poor overworked underpaid brain from having to actually remember anything at all, ever. On the other hand: the lists start to feel like they are having my life for me.
(Specifically, it is the to-do lists that are bothering me. The Giant Packing List has no minus points at all, other than perhaps encouraging my slight kitchen-sink packing tendencies.)
I feel the same way about scheduling, sometimes. The only way to fit in even a tiny fraction of all the Fun Things There Are To Do is via a diary. But then I look at the fullness of the diary & it starts to feel that it's not so much enabling the fun as flattening it into a diary-shaped thing. I experimented, a while back, with Not Scheduling. This had definite advantages, but is not entirely compatible with arranging things with other equally busy people. Since then I have vaguely attempted to Schedule Less, but then I spent about 2 months being on a bike every other minute and that in itself required Extensive Scheduling.
Anyway: the Lists. I think more than anything it's the feeling that they don't *stop*. Lists that you can't ever get to the end of are dispiriting. And by putting some things (even nice enjoyable things) on the List I am excluding other enjoyable things. And sometimes even the nice enjoyable things start to feel like chores once they have gone on the List.
I went for a bike ride today. This was on today's List. I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't written it down; and I enjoyed it while I was out there, mostly... but I think maybe what I am disliking is that this seems to be my *only* means of motivation. Write it down, then you can do it, then you can tick it off. Completion rather than process. I think this may be a suboptimal tendency.
I can't get rid of the Lists. But maybe I can start thinking more about what I'm actually doing rather than when I'll have finished it.
ION: a note that I am going through a slightly anti-social, Not Organising Things patch right now. I think mostly I'm still just *tired* from May, which was full of 900k of cycling & exams & a nice but tiring holiday. (I slept most of the way through Saturday's rave, ffs!) I am hoping that Glastonbury will revitalise me a bit, but I do plan to take it monumentally easy.
Occasionally though I start to wonder whether the lists are causing or reducing stress. On the one hand: Writing Things Down saves my poor overworked underpaid brain from having to actually remember anything at all, ever. On the other hand: the lists start to feel like they are having my life for me.
(Specifically, it is the to-do lists that are bothering me. The Giant Packing List has no minus points at all, other than perhaps encouraging my slight kitchen-sink packing tendencies.)
I feel the same way about scheduling, sometimes. The only way to fit in even a tiny fraction of all the Fun Things There Are To Do is via a diary. But then I look at the fullness of the diary & it starts to feel that it's not so much enabling the fun as flattening it into a diary-shaped thing. I experimented, a while back, with Not Scheduling. This had definite advantages, but is not entirely compatible with arranging things with other equally busy people. Since then I have vaguely attempted to Schedule Less, but then I spent about 2 months being on a bike every other minute and that in itself required Extensive Scheduling.
Anyway: the Lists. I think more than anything it's the feeling that they don't *stop*. Lists that you can't ever get to the end of are dispiriting. And by putting some things (even nice enjoyable things) on the List I am excluding other enjoyable things. And sometimes even the nice enjoyable things start to feel like chores once they have gone on the List.
I went for a bike ride today. This was on today's List. I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't written it down; and I enjoyed it while I was out there, mostly... but I think maybe what I am disliking is that this seems to be my *only* means of motivation. Write it down, then you can do it, then you can tick it off. Completion rather than process. I think this may be a suboptimal tendency.
I can't get rid of the Lists. But maybe I can start thinking more about what I'm actually doing rather than when I'll have finished it.
ION: a note that I am going through a slightly anti-social, Not Organising Things patch right now. I think mostly I'm still just *tired* from May, which was full of 900k of cycling & exams & a nice but tiring holiday. (I slept most of the way through Saturday's rave, ffs!) I am hoping that Glastonbury will revitalise me a bit, but I do plan to take it monumentally easy.
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-13 08:10 pm (UTC)I keep master lists of all work / life stuff in my work notepads. Whenever the list exceeds 88 items, I start a new list and transfer over the unchecked items. While it can be terrifying to see the list after a big action-item meeting or burst of DIY enthusiasm, it's helpful to me to see how much I have checked off in the last n weeks.
This is really sad - if I'm in dire need of bootstrapped motivation, I'll dig up old lists and check off items that were finished months or years ago.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 12:32 pm (UTC)I suspect the other problem is that I *care* less about the work stuff that's not been done, so I am able to face the list with equanimity :-/
Occasionally I put things I've already done on lists, just so's I can cross them off. Actually, I saw a version of this (having a "done" list as well as a to-do list, esp if you tend to do a lot of quick-fix stuff which never makes it onto the to-do list) suggested as a good motivational tool the other day, so maybe it's not quite that sad ;-)