To-do Lists

I love a to-do list!  Have you ever had an entire day that you were devoting to accomplishing your to-do list and when you laid your weary head down, you had only crossed off a few items!  It is maddening, especially for those of us with the Working Genius of Tenacity (thank you Patrick Lencioni and the Table Group for that understanding!  Side note: the Working Genius is amazing to helping understand how your family works, not just your role in a workplace!)  

As a mother, I have the solution for a productive day!  Put EVERYTHING on your list that has to be accomplished that day!  

Workout

Shower

Make Breakfast

Clean up from breakfast

Write Thank you notes to Grandma, Jane, and the neighbors

Make lunch

Empty dishwasher

Fold Laundry

Grocery Store

Fill gas tank

Target

Costco

Put away all groceries

Change Abercrombie’s Bed

Change Lava’s Bed

Sort this year’s photo for a Christmas gift book for Grandparents

Weed the flower bed

However, for years, I only wrote down the projects. That means that once per week, I might actually mark something off the list.  That does not feel successful!  As a lover-of-list-making-parent, I highly recommend putting it all on the list… and when something crazy happens, add it to the list, so that when you are done surviving that crisis, you can mark it off, too!

Take Lava to doctor for possible broken leg (these happened a long time ago!)

Hospital to reset leg

Huge NAP to counter the adrenaline crash!

As a mother, I have huge, self-imposed expectations of all that I should accomplish in a given day, but rarely do I account for the incredibly high probability that those adorable small people that I do most of it for will interrupt any forward progress.  

The older I get, and the older my children get, the more I have grown to appreciate the process with lower expectations of a completed list.  Do my lists get done… eventually.  But with my new everything-goes-on-the-list strategy, I feel very successful at the end of the day!  

Post blog

Plan dinner

Make dinner

Soak in the hot tub