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I have, in the past year or so, finally come to a way of tracking to-dos and such that i am able to be persistent and consistent in recovering them over time.
There's a problem with that: the natural forgetfulness that erases the "Oh, that would be nice to do," opportunities fails me, and so i am swamped with "nice to dos" and "ought to dos." Forgetfulness made prioritization so much more easy. Email is "easy" to prioritize: a bunch of messages over a few weeks old? I sweep those under a rug. But when i've made the commitment to get it on a list or flag it for the future, it's a little harder. I'm working on the practice of adding expiration dates. "If i don't read this in a month, nevermind." I think i need to be more ruthless, though. What makes the future have more time than the now?
Some of this effort is to quit multitasking. If i sort *through* a pile and clear it out, leaving notes on the actions is that more focused than following up on every step? Theoretically, i'm able at the end of the sorting to know what is critical or important in the pile as opposed to simply interesting.
I like the idea of becoming more intentional about what i "lay down"*. Yesterday i sorted through a box that had become, essentially, a junk box. Implicit projects hid in the box: parts bought to fix things, resolve problems we no longer have, broken things to fix, items that could be reused in some crafty way, and so on. I threw out, recycled, or put aside for a rummage sale most of the stuff in that box. I gave a broken thing back to Christine: she could keep it until time came to fix it. I went through my yarn & dye project boxes, too. I have discarded early crochet work: particularly a large, stiff shopping bag project that i started with recycled plastic bags. It was good practice, but i have beautiful yarns to use now, and much more rewarding projects to finish.
* This is a term used in Quaker process. We lay down a committee when its work is done, lay down tasks and roles when we no longer feel called in that direction.
There's a problem with that: the natural forgetfulness that erases the "Oh, that would be nice to do," opportunities fails me, and so i am swamped with "nice to dos" and "ought to dos." Forgetfulness made prioritization so much more easy. Email is "easy" to prioritize: a bunch of messages over a few weeks old? I sweep those under a rug. But when i've made the commitment to get it on a list or flag it for the future, it's a little harder. I'm working on the practice of adding expiration dates. "If i don't read this in a month, nevermind." I think i need to be more ruthless, though. What makes the future have more time than the now?
Some of this effort is to quit multitasking. If i sort *through* a pile and clear it out, leaving notes on the actions is that more focused than following up on every step? Theoretically, i'm able at the end of the sorting to know what is critical or important in the pile as opposed to simply interesting.
I like the idea of becoming more intentional about what i "lay down"*. Yesterday i sorted through a box that had become, essentially, a junk box. Implicit projects hid in the box: parts bought to fix things, resolve problems we no longer have, broken things to fix, items that could be reused in some crafty way, and so on. I threw out, recycled, or put aside for a rummage sale most of the stuff in that box. I gave a broken thing back to Christine: she could keep it until time came to fix it. I went through my yarn & dye project boxes, too. I have discarded early crochet work: particularly a large, stiff shopping bag project that i started with recycled plastic bags. It was good practice, but i have beautiful yarns to use now, and much more rewarding projects to finish.
* This is a term used in Quaker process. We lay down a committee when its work is done, lay down tasks and roles when we no longer feel called in that direction.
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