Lists

# 1- The Problem Exposed

I have lived by the list at the left for most of my life. It has gotten me this far somehow. Everything I do seems to be aimed at making it through another day with limbs intact, brain intact, and spirit intact. I am not always successful. Even this simple list is hard for me to keep sometimes. Other variables, but more often than not, my scattered brain tends to make even these simple rules more complex than they need to be.

I have made a decision. That even old dogs or wannabe old dogs like me can learn new tricks. Up to this point in my life, being the loose dog with too many things in the air at once needs some adjustment. I have attempted in the past to rectify what I see as too much time in neutral while I decide which fire to put out. I will now make another attempt. I'm primed. I am in need. And well, I would like to surprise and awe some of the people I interact with on a day to day basis. My wife being number one on that list.

I admire my wife. She has the ability to organize her time and efforts so that maximum production is achieved out of maximum effort. A kind of highly tuned, supercharged, turbo equipped mentality that starts the day hot and ends the same way. Me, well, I am like an old Mack Truck with 175HP Thermodyne diesel motor that struggles up every hill and screams down the other side. I'm the truck truck lanes were meant for. Sometimes I cannot get out of my own way. My brain is always freighted.

My efforts will be aimed at tweaking my almost perfect personality(ahem) by bringing everything that is me into harmony with the kharmic interludes of character and soul and other New (now old news) Age type touchy feely, we are all bozos on this bus mentalities. My Ying will no longer play second fiddle to my Yang. To do this I must first cast aside my hitherto free range methods of task completion and seek some alternative and more rigid procedures so as to bring Mike back down to Earth on a more regular basis. Once I have properly secured myself into this dimension, I can finally move forward.

A Step in the Right Direction?

Making Lists and sticking to them.

Okay now what? I have made lists before and I always seem to forget them as my day progresses and I end up dealing with the squeaky wheels as they pop up. The pre-emptive advantage a list would have if followed is incalculable. The satisfaction (having felt the pleasure of it once) of checking off something as soon as it is complete has to be better than or equal to, uh , okay it probably is not equal to. But striking through a to do list from start to finish has to feel good. As good as anything you can do by yourself can feel I guess.

So here is my first list after realizing all the previous ones were just practice, I was just kidding lists.

Wait a minute. I need to organize how, what type, and how often I list things. Chronologically or by importance and relevance? Daily or weekly/ Or Both with one being a sublist of the weekly list? I must first organize my concerns and wants as to what will be deemed worthy of my list. So I guess I need to make a Pre-List. And list those concerns and desires that will ultimately make up the Main List that runs my life from here on out. The importance of getting the Main List right puts more pressure on what and how I handle the pressures of the Pre-List.

Wow. Now there are two lists to compose before I can even think of checking anything off of either. This getting my shit together thing is some complicated and intimidating. Yet I know I must try. Too many loose ends pop up and I am frankly tired of having nothing but loose ends to straighten out. Although anyone looking for a good loose end guy, I am the man.

The know it all and the share it all experts of the World Wide Web will certainly be some brains to pick. Even if I don't follow the free advice, maybe some insights of the List Gurus will jog me into creating something that works for me. So the first thing on my Pre-List is to do some research and see what the great Google says. In the meantime, I will continue to: