Toss or Keep Your Lists?
It’s always so interesting for me to hear how other people manage their to-do lists. For instance — I thought everyone kept their lists after crossing everything off — just like I do. Apparently that’s not the case. A lot of people toss their lists as soon as they’re done!
I Keep All My Lists!
For me — I like to keep all my work to-dos in Steno pads and keep them in my desk. Each day before I leave work I write a new list for the following day. I run through the next day in my head and list out every phone call, followup email, meeting and shoot I need to take care of the next day. But even when I fill up the pad — I keep it in my desk…just in case.
Sometimes I have to refer back to a note I made on a page or remember what I was doing on a particular day. I just like to have a record of my life — even if it’s a scratched out, doodled on version. Apparently so does Karen Rizzo (no relation) — as she told her memoir, “Things to Bring, S#!t To Do” entirely in lists!
Many People Toss Them
But there are some people who throw out their Post-its the second they accomplish whatever goal they set for themselves. I guess this is a way of physically getting the task out of your way so you can clear your head and move onto the next task.
So what about you — toss or keep?
This made me smile. I love looking back at my old crossed-off lists and seeing how much I’d done. When I was a classroom teacher, though, I used Post-It notes cut into small strips to keep track of tasks related to lesson plans. My lesson plan book showed the plans for a week, and if there was any prep work (materials to find, papers to copy, etc.) I would write it on a sticky note strip and stick in on the related lesson. I could see at a glance how much needed to be done for the next day or the next week. Then I’d take off and throw away the sticky note strip as each task was completed. When all the sticky notes were gone and my planning pages were clear, what a great feeling that was! 🙂
Hi Tami –
Thanks so much for your comment and for reading the blog! What a novel idea for keeping track of your projects! Love that! Thanks for sharing 😉