As I found myself taking down our 2011 calendar and replacing it with the 2012 one, I wondered if our lives will ever slow down. Starting tomorrow we have something on the calendar every day for three weeks. Ugh! But we will get through it, and at the end of those three weeks, our oldest will have his permit to drive. So, yes, it will be worth it. ~smile~
A few years ago I found myself at the beginning of a new year and feeling like I should join the masses in making resolutions for the new year. However, I found myself not even wanting to think about it because, after all, aren't most resolutions broken after the first week or two?
That's when it hit me! Rather than set myself up for failure, why not set up an "Annual To-Do List?" I have done this for a few years now, and for me it is definitely the solution to the problem of New Years resolutions.
I have different categories for some of the things I hope to accomplish in 2012. Categories such as spiritual, physical, intellectual, homemaking, home improvement, hobbies, relational, and financial help me map out what direction 2012 will take. This way, I won't get to the end of the year and wonder what I accomplished that year.
For example, in 2011 I read through my Bible and I listened to the whole Bible on CD. I finished writing the Step by Step lessons for church. I read a number of books and took a sewing class. I had a garden, started some blueberry bushes, asparagus, and rhubarb and did a lot of canning. We went kayaking as a family and slept out under the stars (until it started raining!) We took the kids to Alabama, to Branson, and to the trailer. I met my goals for geocaching, had people over to our house, had a family picture taken, and kept up on my correspondence. We also compelted a lot of minor home improvement projects.
Whew! What fun it is, though, to look over my to-do list for 2011 and remember all the things that I did. Oh, I didn't get to every thing on my list, and there are some things that will be on my "Annual To-Do List" every year, but for me it's a great way to plan out the coming year. As I make up my weekly list of things to do, I consult this annual list. It keeps me on track, and if I decide not to persue a particular goal, it's a conscious decision to do so, rather than being forgetful, lazy, or busy.
Give it a try. Other than a piece of paper and a bit of your time, what do you have to loose?
Made me tired just reading your list! How did you get all that done in just one year?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I think a lot of it has to do with making out my annual to do list at the beginning of the year. Then each week I refer to that annual list when I make up my list of things to do that week. This ensures that weeks don't go by without contacting people I really had good intentions of connecting with weekly.
DeleteThis also ensures that I will take baby steps to complete a project. For example, one of my goals for this year is to make a summer quilt for our bed. Now that the tree is out of the living room, I'm going to set up a card table with my "quilt." (Some assembly required!) Each week on my weekly to-do list, I'll list an easily attainible goal. For example, cut out the blue stripes. Next week I may cut out the white squares. Then the next week I'll sew them together. Hopefully by the time summer comes, it'll be done. Baby steps.
If I didn't refer to my annual to-do list every week, the end of the year would come and many of the things on it wouldn't be done.
Oh, there are still a lot of things on last years' list that didn't get done, but I like to think about the things I did get done and put the others on this year's list. ~smile~