I don’t know about you, but the start of my year has been a little bit crazy and really quite scattered. However, now that January is at its absolute end, I have almost certainly exhausted the excuse: “Well… you know… I’m only just back to work so I’ll get to that* soon”. No, not going to wash – it’s time to get motivated.
The bucketing sheets of rain over recent weeks haven’t helped me get going, nor has the alarmingly large pile of things and stuff waiting for my attention. Just thinking about it makes me want to bury myself in blankets or lie on cushions reading travel stories (which I may or may not have spent several days hours doing).
I’ve found that the best way to pull myself out of this stuck feeling, and get myself going, is with the help of a list. A trusty list!
It is a well-known fact that I am a listophile. So much so that one of my dearest friends sent me a luscious red ‘List Book’ for Christmas, full of lovely plain pages just busting to be filled with words, ideas and plans. It’s the best! Just looking at it makes me feel motivated.
Here is a list (!) of the some of the reason I love lists that may help you love them too:
My thoughts appear so neat and organised this way (otherwise existing as a jumbled bunch of half-finished and/or potentially-genius ideas running rampant in my mind) – i.e. a list creates order where there was previously chaos.
A dot, star or box (personal favourite) at the start of each sentence practically begs me to tick it off – i.e. a list provides incentive.
Tacked to our fridge or tucked into my diary, a regular glance at my list reminds of all the (mostly) excellent things I need to get done – i.e. a list maintains focus, useful in a world of numerous distractions.
Writing a list makes me feel like I’m already “getting stuff done” i.e. a list is a little achievement in itself.
*that = any number of tasks, trivial and large, that require my attention and can no longer be hidden under a neatly stacked pile of magazines.