Doing It All (or, Remembering To Do It At All)

Lately I have been wondering how people keep track if all the things they need to do. Most days, I come home from work and just sit on the couch until it's time to make dinner, not because I'm exhausted from the day's work or because I'm engrossed in a fascinating book, but because I can't think of what else to do. It isn't that I don't have anything to do -- on any given evening I could be blocking a recently-completed knitting project, answering any number of emails languishing in my inbox, blogging, cleaning the floor, or going for a run. And it isn't that I don't WANT to be doing any of these things (well, I really don't want to clean the floor); I just don't THINK to do them. It isn't until the next day when I get to work that I think of the personal emails I could gave written the previous evening, or when I get dressed that I think if I had only blocked that sweater, I could be wearing it. But when I get home from work, none of these activities spring to mind. All of this may come as a surprise to some readers, as I generally come off as being much more organized than I actually am. I have tried to-do lists and am quite good at making them, but it never occurs to me to actually read them, and writing "read to-do list" on my to-do list is just beyond pointless. So what is the answer? How does David come home every night knowing exactly which gardening projects he is going to work on? How do the rest of you remember all the things you need to do?

Comments

[Sadia]

My solution was to be a single-every-other-year working mom of twins. With 36 hours worth of stuff that must get done daily (more on weekends), there is no sitting down at all!

In seriousness, it's all about triage and turning everything into mini-projects. I don't take more than 10 minutes of downtime, and that comes immediately after I put the girls to bed. Then it's go go go until I fall asleep. I try to fit a shower in where I can, try to sit down for a meal at least once a week, and focus on the girls when they're awake. I also use my walk to and from the parking lot to plan out my mini-projects.