My Big Plan

As I thought back over this past week and the discouragement/lack of motivation that I felt, I realized that at least part of that was due to the fact that when I looked around my house (my life?), I saw so many unfinished projects...and I'm discovering that when I lack that sense of completion that comes from really and truly finishing something and crossing it off my list--either on paper or in my head--I see the world through tired, gloomy eyes. So here's my big plan...ready??? :)

I love to make a to-do list. BUT the big problem is that my list is always much longer than I could ever achieve in the time I allow myself. And in the end, I often focus on what I did NOT get accomplished, rather than what I did do. So now for each week, I'm going to write five extra projects to be done--and that's it. No more than five. When I write five for a week, then I have to move on to the next week and start making a list for that week. If I write five for that one, then it's on to the next week. I'm thinking (I could be wrong!) that five fairly-small projects should certainly be manageable, right? I'm not talking about writing down the project of "organize the whole garage" or "clean out the garden shed" or some absurdly huge project like that--only small tasks. Of course, if I accomplish all 5 tasks for a week, I can go on to the next week's projects; working ahead is allowed. :) But my hypothesis is that if I can tackle these 5 small items and see definitive action in those areas, that will be encouraging to me and will actually energize me as I look ahead to new areas of work. We'll see...it can't hurt to try, true? :)

So far I've written down 5 projects for this coming week--as well as 5 projects for the following week--as well as 1 project for the week after that. I'm pleased because once I write down a project, I can kind of forget about it. Knowing that I can get to it in a week or two or three means I can take it out of my mind now and therefore unclutter my brain--which is a very good thing!