Why I am giving up on the To Do List

For as long as I can remember, I have been a list maker. I will make lists from sun up to sun down. I write things on my list that I have already done just so I can check them off. My husband makes fun of me because I write on my list to make another list. 

But where does that get us? 

I know that I need to get the laundry done. I have to every week. It doesn't change. I see the dishes sitting in the sink. Just writing it down on a page isn't going to make me do them any quicker. I have projects around the house that can always be worked on. But writing them down just to have something to check off daily does not make me any more productive. 

What does, though, is setting goals for the day. What do I want to accomplish for the day? How I want to feel by the time I go to bed at night? What is going to help me get there? I've started to get into the habit of writing down three things that I want to work on for the day. They may be simple things, like sending out thank you notes, or they might be big things like working on my emotional health. It might be something that I can still cross off for the day, or it might be something that leads me to a bigger goal. It might even be something that I can't accomplish in a year. 

I just don't want to look back on my life and see tasks checked off one by one. I want to see a life well lived. And something more than a check mark.  

One of the ways that I've been planning lately is with a bullet journal, or BuJo for short. 

I've been using a Moleskine Dot Grid journal to organize my days and weeks to look at what I have planned out and can also take time to organize my thoughts. 

I like it more than a regular planner because I can change it from day to day, week to week and I can make it as colorful or as plain as my life dictates. 

​Another #bujo  account I follow

The original bullet journal idea is from Ryder Carroll and you can find out more about it on the website here. It has evolved for many people, though, into something way more than just a log. You can find all kinds of creative inspiration on instagram. Kara Benz (@boho.berry) is one of my favorites! Or just search #bulletjournal or #bujo and you will come up with all kinds of posts. It's a great way to express yourself as well. I can be a bit all over the place when it comes to journaling and keeping track of things, so if I don't use my bujo for a few days (or weeks), it's not a waste because I can just start where I am, as opposed to a calendar that's already labeled with the dates 

​Some of my early bujo days

That's not to say that I don't have a regular planner to keep track of my appointments and events in my life. Bullet Journaling makes it difficult to plan for the future, so I still have a Get To Work Book for the rest of my life. It is definitely serving my life right now and really what got me to start doing the big ideas for the day, as opposed to just mundane tasks. It's a great way to give your life purpose while still getting shit done. I'm not saying that I'll never make a to do list again, but they are coming fewer and farther between. Sometimes for crazy times, it'll be necessary to keep track of all I have to do. It makes it easier to just get into the action phase as opposed to being in the planning phase, which is where I get stuck a lot. Here's to getting things done.

xo
​SJ

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