I was talking with Kiera Pedley from WAHM Network Australia today and we were just talking about life.  We were discussing the WAHM site and the concept of adding a video tutorial on how to get around the site and Kiera said it was on her to-do list, but a little down the list.  This brought us to the subject of to-do lists and I thought it may make an interesting post.

We’ve probably all read the books like Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – which incidentally is brilliant just in case you haven’t read it! – where he tackles the issue of prioritising.  However, it is one thing to know it all in theory and entirely a different thing to practise it all the time!

Which brings me to the whole point of this post…

Why is it that To-Do Lists just seem to never get any shorter?

I mean you start off with 10 items and you work your way through them meticulously and by the time you start to make good progress, another  10 items have arisen to take their place!  It hardly seems fair.

I have been using the To-Do function on my computer.  It creates this lovely space for me to type in the task, some info, the timeframe.  It pops up and reminds me about tasks and it is driving me absolutely nuts!  Why?  Because when I set up the task I have an idea of when I would like it to be completed, however, in the meantime a thousand other things have arisen that have pushed out my timeframe.  That is, unless it is an ultra urgent item with a firm deadline.

So I was talking to Kiera and it occured to me why this was.  I have four children, and they continually harass me about what they want me to do and when they want me to do it by.  They remind me daily leading up to their birthdays, their sporting events, their social engagements, their concerts…even getting them to school daily.  I am so REMINDED OUT!

Consequently, after pushing the snooze buttom so many times that it literally was driving me nuts, I have abandoned the To-Do List function altogether.  After all, even when I have completed the tasks it still shows them there with a line through them just to confuse me!

Before I had children I had a very simple system.  In Tray – Out Tray.  If it’s in the In-Tray, it’s to do today.  If it can’t be done today, then it is in the long-term projects tray.  At the end of the day, I worked hard to ensure my In-Tray was empty or close to as possible but that was before I had four children, a household to run, a business, a community association and a husband to care for.

I guess being a very visual person, a simple list, that has an alarm that is sensitive to my mood swings might work.  Can someone please invent a to-do list that is telepathically controlled and updates automatically and only reminds me when I have the space in my heart and life to respond?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on To-Do Lists.  Do they work for you?  What do you use?  How do you manage getting all those odd little things done effectively.

I look forward to reading your response!