Mar 16, 2010
The “Things I Am NOT Working On Right Now” List
We know that focusing on one or two or, okay, maybe five things at a time is better than trying to accomplish twenty-five things at a time.
We know this.
But we still don't like it.
I choose each morning what I'm working on. Dinner, laundry, what I'm going to clean, what I need to work with the kids in ("Good Morning, kids, it's "don't hit each other" day here in the Mueller house!"), and what my writing jobs are for the day.
And I still have the haunting presence of all the things I'm not getting to, the areas I'm not improving, the stuff I'm missing.
So, this morning I got tired of being tired of that feeling and I made a new list: the official "things I am NOT working on Right Now" list. I cannot recommend this highly enough.
On my list:
I'm NOT working on
decorating or painting the house, even where it badly needs it
drastically improving our diet, or really changing much about it at all
cutting down our movie/screen time
starting seeds for the garden
adding new songs to our worship sets at church
formal preschool activities
keeping the house spotless
writing more on my novel or poetry
All those areas of my life need some work, much of it major work, but I can't tackle them right now. Because here's what I AM working on:
- Kids: obedience, no whining
- Family: lots of time outside together!
- House: decluttering
- Food: menu plan and being frugal
- Writing: more consistent writing time, finishing book proposals, keeping up with blogs & jobs
- Church: organizing the spring garage sale
- Self: exercise, reading
So what's working for me is consciously saying no to some areas for a time, in order that I might say yes to other, more important things. The importance of things will change; priorities shift. But for now, for this moment, for this day or week or most likely for the whole month, I'm keeping up with my "DON'T do this" list as well as my "DO this" list.
How about you?
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This post is linked up with
Works for Me Wednesday hosted by We are THAT Family.
Hi! We used to go to church with you guys and actually lived in the church house. Remember us? Anyway, I read your blog about daily. Good reads! You always make me laugh! It was so weird to be reading through your archives and find out you are living in our old house! So how do you like it? We have 2 kids now. Our daughter is almost 5 and our son just turned one. Just wanted to say hi! Email me sometime if you want! Jenny
so true, for everything we say 'yes' to, it means we're saying 'no' to something else
I've also had to put some things on my 'no' list
some are the same as what you listed - I, too, am not putting as much energy/thought/time into improving the decor of our home (as much as I'd like to) mostly because that also costs money that is just not in the budjet. Now I could still plan, plot and dream what I'd like to do (one day) however, that would just not be the best use of the limited time I could be focusing on other areas.
I organized a church-wide garage sale a few years back with our body...that is no small task! Hope it's a success!
Another brilliant post! Why do we add so much extra to our to-do lists that never get done - they just stress us out and make us feel like failures?!
Oh man. I am all over this idea! I think this will really keep me focused.
Thanks for the inspiration! Come by and see me sometime over at Free 2 Be Frugal.
This is really clever! I'll try it.
One thing that works for me is writing very small tasks on my to-do list for the pleasure of checking them off. Even things I do every single day. Also things I didn't plan to do but wound up doing--for instance, I spilled olive oil and had to clean the floor; now I can write, "mop kitchen" on my to-do list and check it off!
[...] principle of self-care can result in a lot of good changes and better choices: people being honest, setting limits, cutting back work hours, getting more physically fit, taking adequate time to rest, spending more [...]