As a kid, the arrival of the Sears Catalog was akin to the
changing seasons. Mom and I would sit down and go through it page by page,
commenting on items we liked.
At Christmas, their Wish Book made me dream of dolls, toys,
clothes, and decorations for our house. While it gave me many ideas, only a
small percentage of things on my personal Wish List found their way from Sears
to our mailbox.
At times, my To-Do List seems more like a Wish List. At the
end of the day, numerous items roll over to the next day's list. The recurring
items like writing, the gym, laundry, and grocery shopping have to get done.
Special projects in the house and for marketing rarely get a check mark.
Here are a few ways I manage those items that languish on my
To-Do List for weeks and months:
1) Break the job into bite-sized pieces and
take 15 minutes to work on it each day or several days a week. My guest
room was becoming a catch all, so one morning I took 20 minutes and de-cluttered.
The next step was to clean out the closet. I knew several items needed to go
into the garbage, so I'd grab a few and discard them on my way out the door.
2) Guest Posts and Interviews - These are
great ways to promote your books or writing talents. Some bloggers require you
to answer 12-15 questions. Whew! That takes a lot of time. A guest post
requires coming up with an idea, writing, editing, and submitting it along with
pictures, book covers, blurbs, and links.
I try to get a reasonable amount of lead time, and then go
to work on the project immediately. Once I decide on what to write, I open a
Word document and jot down notes. Questions for interviews are also transferred
to a Word document. I'll answer a few questions each day until it's finished.
The one thing I NEVER do is wait until the last minute. I get it to the blogger
as soon as possible. It's a great stress
reducer.
How does this affect my To-Do List? I have each of those
parts listed. Even if it carries over to my list for weeks, I can check off
individual items and see I'm making progress (or not making progress).
3) BIG Projects - Writing a novel is a big
project. Spring cleaning is a big project. Planting a garden requires a lot of
work. How do I keep these moving along without letting my house have 3 inches
of dust or laundry piled to the ceiling?
A separate list for each item can be helpful. Granted, one
has to actually look at the list and maintain it. This is not my strong point,
so it takes more discipline.
Some projects I've pared down to the bare essentials. The
garden will be limited to flowers this year. While I love growing vegetables,
they require far more attention than easy-care blooms. (I make sure the flowers
I pick work well for my planting beds and are drought tolerant.)
Writers and Readers:
How do you keep your To-Do List from becoming a Wish List? I could sure
use more suggestions.
Photo Credit: Fanginhoon
