My List For Today

I always seem to have an endless, multi-faceted list of things to do buzzing around in my head. From the mundane to the important, from the urgent to the "I wish," and often a lot of things that go like "I MUST to this, but I can do that I must to this, and this and this;" - in order words there are a bunch of steps that have to happen to make it possible to accomplish the really important one.

In my world there is always creatures and people to feed and care for, dishes and laundry and housework to do, paperwork, office work and a business or two to run, seeds to plant, weeds to pull, veges to harvest and process, fruit to pick, sheep to shear, ironing and mending, cooking and grocery shopping and meal planning, meetings to attend, children to help with schoolwork or cheer on, seeds to harvest and save, gardens to dig, compost to make, sheds to empty out, stuff that needs decluttering, lawns that need mowing, and the list goes on and on.....

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When there is so much to do, it's easy to waste time switching between tasks in a non-deliberate fashion, and not get things done, or not get them done well.

A list helps. Thinking about writing a list when you know there is so much to do can be a bit overwhelming - you think the list itself will overwhelm and discourage. But in actual fact, once you get everything out of your head and down on paper, it is often not as bad as your brain is telling you.

There are two kinds of lists I like to write - one I call a full "Brain dump" - getting EVERYTHING down on paper, every single thing I can think of that needs my attention between now and eternity. And the other one is a simple "To Do Today" list. It's helpful to pull from all that morass of crazy mental to-dos the list of ACTUAL tasks I will focus on TODAY.

Here's what mine looks like this morning:

• Feed poultry
  
• Start more laundry and hang out loads (to repeat frequently)
• Wipe down the yellow bookshelves on the porch - these are a combo place to store shoes and place to put pumpkins while they cure.
• Cut and lay cardboard for the shelves that will hold pumpkins
• Wipe down pumpkins with vinegar/water solution and sit on deck in sun to dry
• Blanch and freeze large container of green beans
• Empty out/organise large enclosed carport (this is a biggie but essential to my further storage plans)
• Put items to give away in front corner (will shift to side of road on Weds, once school kids are back in school)
• Rearrange shelving units, so big heavy one is on it's side along one side of shed, and crates can be stacked on top.
• Line crates with cardboard
• Move cured marrows to crates in shed
• Relist Trade-Me items with expired listings
• Write blog post re tomato soup
• Clear corner garden bed, and position compost bins on top. Sow poppies in extra space
• Tidy office and put away all paperwork
• Pull all left overs from the fridge and use them to make a creative dinner meal.

And that is plenty for today! I wonder if I'll get them all done?