The Terrific Task List

I admit it ... I love my task list. I think it is truly terrific!  

I know that many of you are groaning at the thought of a task list, much less loving it.  You are thinking that tasks equate to chores. Sometimes they are.  But, in many cases, they are wonderful reminders of fun things. 

Some of my tasks are recurring and some are single items. Some occur yearly, while others may be nothing more than a simple reminder of a note I have taken (remember my blog, "The secret to life... better notes").

I use tasks list to track almost everything:

• Post weekly blog
• Change air filter
• Plan a monthly dinner with friends
• Check out websites for the monthly fairs and festivals
• Send Christmas cards
• Book a massage
• Plan a family outing
• Water plants

The list goes on and on. 

I currently keep my tasks in either my email program or on my calendar (depending on what sort of task it is and if it is personal or professional).  I check my task lists daily to ensure nothing is falling through the cracks. I complete the task or I move it if it something I should actually do tomorrow or later in the week. I delete it if I know I no longer need it. Remember, just because you create the task, doesn't mean you ever have to do it (see my blog post "I am never going to do that"). 

I sleep better - having a task list I trust.  I don't wake at 2 am thinking about something I need to remember to do. My mind is wonderful at waking me at 2 am, but it is horrible at actually remembering to remind me of the task when I am awake and at a place I can do the task. For me, that is enough of a reward to get in the habit of keeping up my task lists.

Shoe rack or winter wear holder?

We do not have a mud room. We do have a laundry room right off our garage door and we tend to use that as our mud room.  Our car keys hang on the wall, my purse hangs on a hook, and various things we might need if we are heading out for the day are in this small room.  

Originally, when we moved into the house, we kept gloves, hats and scarves in the hall coat closet. We realized that a lot of the time, we threw our coat over the kitchen chair and then ran out of the house without gloves or a scarf, because we didn't think about it in our rush out the door.  

I saw a lot of people putting baskets in their mud rooms to store these items, but I didn't have the room for a setup like that.

Solution:  a shoe rack.  

I found one of those door shoe racks at a garage sale and it was perfect.  I nailed it to the wall and placed my gloves, hats and scarves in the little slots. 

This also makes us realize how many glove sets we own. Now, if we find a cool set of gloves at a garage sale, we can easily look and see which pair we no longer need and put them in the goodwill box (remember my rule from my decluttering blog... one in/one out). 

We can now quickly grab our winter gear when we grab our keys. 

Added bonus: I can keep other small things I need in the extra pockets.

Being a 3 out of 5 is okay

I was listening to a webinar on happiness the other day. The speaker was discussing an annual review where she was rated as "meets expectations".  She was told 'being a 3 out of 5 is honestly okay'.  I was dumbfounded and confused by this concept.

As you might have read in my blog on my not being perfect, I strive for perfection a lot of the time.  The thought of not receiving an "exceeds expectations" on a performance review just made my stomach hurt.

She went on to explain that the year before she had done a special project and went above and beyond her normal job. She worked a lot of extra hours, nights and weekends. She received a fantastic review that year.  Then, the next year, she did her job well and received the 3 out of 5.

She was disappointed and shared with us that she questioned her supervisor regarding the lower rating. The supervisor told her that the year before, she went way above and beyond her role and received the high rating. This year, she did her job well and therefore received the normal rating. She asked what would have gotten her a amazing review. Her supervisor told her that she would have had to take on another special project, work nights and weekends and go above and beyond. Her supervisor asked her if she liked the idea of another year of working nights and weekends. She stated she did not. She was asked if she liked giving up time with her family and friends to take on another special project.  She did not. The supervisor explained to her that then meeting her job requirements was the perfect score on her review and she should be happy with the rating.

I could tell from watching her, that this really bugged her at the time.  And... it would really bug me. She admitted it troubled her. She said she felt disappointed in herself and with her supervisor, until she really started thinking about what the supervisor had asked her.  She had enjoyed the special project and was proud of the work, but she needed a break the following year.  She enjoyed the time with her family and friends, and the time away from work.   

She began to understand that a rating of 3 meant she was good at her job.  It meant that she did not need to improve her work. It meant she had improved her work-life balance. This was not wrong and did not make her a bad employee.  I could tell as she talked about it, that she did truly realize that this rating was not in insult. 

Trust me... it took awhile to fully come to an understanding of her story.  I replayed the concept in my mind. I started writing this blog about it. As I progressed, I realize it really would be okay to be good at your job and good at your life.  I understood that exceeding at your job came at a price.  Sometimes it is great and necessary to exceed at your job and pay the price, but sometimes it is great to meet the expectations of your job - and live your life equally.

Top 10 List (and Thank You)

I was curious which of my blog post you all seemed to find the most useful or the most fun to read. 

Here are the top ten most read blog posts:

1. Two-Minute Rule – Helping to tackle procrastination and time management 120 seconds at a time
2. Be Kind To Each Other

   

   
   

3. Decluttering … The project I have learned to love
   
4. My Covid-19 Scare
5. My journey to be “Smiley” again
6. I am not perfect
7. Working From Home - Simple Helpful Hints
8. Lessons Learned - Getting Out of Debt
9. Extra vacation cash – made easy
10. Keeping Kudos

I have to admit, your list is pretty close to what my list would be.  You and I enjoyed the Two-Minute Rule the best. Though, I was a little disappointed to not see one of my pets blogs on the list, as those are fun for me to write. Some of your top reads made sense to me and some of the ones not on the list sort of surprised me. But, overall, I was glad to see that I was getting a pretty steady readership.  And, that some of my blogs you were apparently finding useful, rereading and even sharing. 

Now that I have been doing this for awhile, I realize that many of these blogs I have written as much for myself, as for you all.  I find it therapeutic to write this blog.  It is funny, I keep a list of topics I might write on. Then, when I am in a writing mood, I go through my topics list.  Sometimes I can tell that my mood is very upbeat and I pick topics that are cheery and bright.  Other times I look at at the list and realize that I have a strong need to write about something I am struggling with.  

No matter why you read my blogs, I am honored that you do.  I know you have a lot of options out there and you probably don't have a ton of time each day to read blogs.  The fact you give me some of your time is a huge compliment to me.

And... if there is ever a topic you wish I would write on, please let me know. 

I am always looking for topics.

Don't sweat the small stuff... and it almost all small stuff

For those of you that have read my blogs over the years, you know that I am a worrier (mentioned in my blog, "I am not perfect").  I worry about things I can control, along with things I cannot control. 

I have been working very hard these past few years, to stop all the worrying and focus on productive and positive things.  Giving up worrying is tough though, I have decades of the learned behavior.

Enter the concept of not sweating the small stuff. 

The more I work to stop worrying, the more I realize that most of the stuff is VERY small.  Worrying does not help fix the issue or problem. It does ensure I loose sleep, eat poorly, am grumpy and have to fight that much harder to be positive.  If this were any other terrible habit, I would have worked years ago to stop it. If it were an illness, I would have seen a doctor. And, if it were something in my house that caused me this much trouble, I would have driven it to the dump myself to finally be rid of it. 

But, worrying is like an old friend to me. I mistakenly think of it as "caring" about an issue or problem. It gives me comfort to think that if I am worrying about something - I care about it.

For instance, if I am working on a presentation and something is not working right - I worry about it. In a warped part of my mind, I think that really does mean I care about how it turns out.

Craziness, I know. 

Instead, I am trying to look at everything in a new light.  Can I fix the issue?  Is there a video I can watch or an article I can read that will teach me how to fix the issue?  Can I create a work-around that will produce what my boss wants? Is anyone going to die if the presentation is not 100 percent perfect? 

And... honestly, that is the big question... is anyone going to die?  If the answer is "no", then there should be nothing to worry about. Caring about doing a good job, should not create worry. Caring about being a good friend/neighbor/family member, etc, should not cause worry.  Worry is a true waste of energy.

I have a friend and mentor (you know who you are and I thank you for your teachings) that has been working with me over the past few years to stop me from worrying.  Each month I get a little better.  I am kicking the worrying habit. 

I am learning that my old friend, worry, is not a good friend and I need to cut him from my life. 

Is this a work in progress... sure.  It took me almost two years to cut soda from my life and I only drank it for a few decades.  Worry has been with me pretty much my entire life.  But... I really do hope to read this someday in the future and realize that I kicked the worry habit entirely. 

All I can say to my younger friends that might be reading this is to stop worrying right now.  The sooner you kick this habit, the better.  It will never mean you don't care. It just means you are wasting energy on something stupid.