Sometimes people who know me well are surprised to find out that I love “To Do” lists. On the one hand, I love a really free unstructured life and schedule. On the other hand, I find that there’s a benefit to imposing some self-structure. One of the ways that I have always done that is with To Do lists. However, I have been moving towards a shift lately in which the To Do list is beginning to serve a different purpose in my life than it has up to this point.

I use versions of the To Do list in many different ways. Each week I make my To Do list for work which includes when I plan to do different writing jobs. It also includes items that aren’t deadlined but that I’d like to do such as researching writing contests or looking for new clients, etc.

I often make a weekly To Do list (in calendar form) of the other things that I want to do with my week. Sometimes this is very structured. I get these ideas in my head about what I should be doing in order to have the life that I want. Then I create To Do lists that reflect these ideas. For example, I decide that I should be going to yoga three times per week, hiking once a week, attending at least one cultural/educational event per week, doing something artsy once per week, etc. Then I make a calendar-based list of specifically what activities I’m going to do that week and when.

I also sometimes make monthly To Do lists. These reflect the same types of things as the weekly list but include many other goals and plans and things I want to try out or go to or achieve. For example, it may include completing two crochet projects, reading a new author, etc.

Finally, I do make “life lists” (so-called bucket lists) and I review those about once per year (either New Years or my birthday) to see how I’m doing and what I want to add to it and sometimes if there are things I decide aren’t relevant anymore then I’ll take items off as well.

These lists have served a huge purpose for me in my life up until now. However, I’ve discovered over the past year or so that they aren’t working for me as well as they used to. In fact, I think that they’re now holding me back. I tend to get disappointed or frustrated with myself when I don’t “check off” most of the items on my weekly or monthly lists. I’ve gotten better about just letting go of that frustration but now I think I’m really at the next step of needing to let go of those lists.

I’ve been thinking a lot over the past year or so about what my true goals in life are. There are tons of things that I want to do in my life. However, they boil down to just a few big overarching goals or values. Those are:

• I want to be healthy and active.
• I want to have a life that is filled with creativity and exploration.
• I want to always be learning new things.
• I want financial stability without obsessing over money.
• I want to be loving and kind towards people in my life who make me feel happy and good.

Tags: goals, lists, organizing life, to do list