Ever had one of those days where you feel like you haven’t accomplished what you wanted to?

Ever been confronted with the bare-faced reminder of yet another “little job” you haven’t got around to doing?

We all have an “everlasting to-do list” but how do you get around to facing the inevitable truth that there is always more to accomplish than there are hours in the day.

Having recently read Mike Gayle’s funny and thought provoking “The To Do List” it made me think about all the little things I have been meaning to do from clearing the drain out from blocked leaves to phoning friends I have lost touch with to sitting down and finally drafting out that book I have always been promising myself to write.

In addition to all the “home jobs” (plant spring bulbs in autumn not spring then you might actually see them before June) and “friend & relationship” jobs (have multiple friends over to dinner party and make up for dinners as yet unreturned – may need to consider marquee through numbers…) there are of course the inevitable and inescapable “work and career related jobs”.

It got me thinking about how we manage our time – both personal and work-wise- and what is the best option to achieve the perfect “work-life-personal” balance.

Re work, I am an Outlook Addict and schedule in not only physical appointments and travel time but also project and thinking time quite naturally and as the last 10 years history of Outlook will prove, manage my time pretty successfully.

What I am poor at is scheduling in “me-time”, holidays, getting on top of my mental “everlasting to-do list”. So I have started to draft one:

A physical, unfiltered list of things I have always wanted and want or need to do- just as I think of them, no screening or conditions, just down in black and white so I can work my way through them when I have the chance, opportunity or scheduled “action time”.

The way I look at, one of 2 things will happen.

1. I will accomplish everything on the list and feel replete but lonely and boring as I would literally have to give up work and do the list as a full time job or need a doppelganger and if I did everything anyway then what else would I do afterwards?

2. I will work my way through some of the list, having some fun, challenging myself and feeling extremely pleased with myself as I give myself ticks for the ones I do manage

So here I go- wish me luck.

Number 14 was “write a blog on to-do lists and time management” so I have just awarded myself

My

First

Tick!

Best Wishes, Lisa