The Rational Idea

Every morning I start with a rational idea. Get the girls off to school. Write a to-do list and start checking things off. Every day this doesn't happen. Don't know why. By noon I'm wishing I'd written that to-do list so that I could see what I've accomplished. This is when I cheat.

This is when I start writing the to-do list that I should have written in the morning. This is when I start writing more things on the list than I would have if I had written it in the morning. Because, in the morning that list would have looked so long that I wouldn't have gotten dressed and would have crawled back into bed.

But no, now that it's noon, I add things like. Take a Shower to the list. And Put Away the Cereal Boxes the Kids Left Out. Put The Soda Cans in the Recycling Bin. Put the Checks I need to Cash in My Purse. Fold the Towels that I've been Ignoring. Drink Water.

This way I can check things off and my long list looks impressive. Especially now that it's half done. Which is good. Even though everything that is still unchecked makes up the entire list that would have existed had I just written the list in the morning, I still feel secure.

Just incase the To-Do List Police do a drop by inspection--I can show progress. Perhaps I'll get off with just a warning.

Do you write a to-do list? Do you do anything creative with it?