posted
Sooooo, are you busy? Do you constantly rely on a bunch of lists to keep track of things? You think it's harmless, don't you? Think again, but only read on if you can handle the truth (sigh) :
My name is Lotti, and I'm a listaholic. It isn't easy for me to admit that I'm out of control, when all I really want to be is IN control, but I can't handle it any longer. I shake when I write a new list, for fear that I might forget one thing, and I'm suffering from acute sleep deficit because I'm mentally revising my lists while laying awake at night. Before I attended my first meeting of Listaholics Anonymous (LA) I didn't know that there were others out there. In fact I didn't even know that there was a name for my problem: Compulsive Listomaniac Disorder. Hubby made me go to my first meeting, I didn't want to go. I insisted that I could get a grip on it if only I'd follow my new list of rules, but he wouldn't hear of it. I'm not sure what made him so persistent all at once. Maybe it was that "Romantic rendez-vous" wasn't on my To-do-list list for that day, or maybe it was that he cut himself again while trying to get a glimpse of his chin through the stick-it notes on the bathroom mirror, but he dragged me to that meeting. That's when I met the others. Few men, mostly women. I recognized them as kindered spirits by their absent minded looks, the silently moving lips and their nervous finger tapping. After all there are no paper or writing tools allowed during the meetings. It was tough. But I soon learned that there is hope. Now all of my lists are in one place: the fridge. Two yards of magnetic material cut into 1 1/2 inch square pieces hold them in place. Babysteps. I could tell you more, but I just remembered several things I need to buy tomorrow after work, so goodbye for now and thank you for listening. Maybe see you at the next meeting?
I keep lists all the time...got CRS I guess. I have gotten to where I keep the list on a clipboard with a legal pad on it. When it gets full I flip the page over and start a new page. When the tablet is full, I save it. I have tablets from three years ago....its almost a diary. They have come in handy in the past, when trying to remember something that I did last year, or something like that.
I used to work for a guy who had the list thing real bad. He ran a small elctric sign shop, and had two crews that he sent out everyday, so he had some serious lists going on. Also, he would figure a job estimate on the same notepad, every detail imaginable about what the particular job entailed. Then the phone would ring or a delivery would come in, and he'd get side tracked for awhile. Then when he came back to his desk, he couldn't find the list, so rather than hunt it, he'd start a new one. I've seen him with as many as three lists. all for the same stuff. Sometimes when he called someone into the office to discuss something about a job, he would rummage around for his list, and end up with 2 of them, and wouldn"t know which one to use, because he had figured the job 2 different ways (and ended up with the same results !)
I say, if you can just keep your list where you can find it all the time, then you'll be OK
-------------------- Jeff Ogden 8727 NE 68 Terr. Gainesville FL, 32609 Posts: 2138 | From: 8827 NE 68 Terr Gainesville Fl 32609 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Lotti ... As one "list-a-holic" to another, get a Diary! Catagorise the lists. Just don't note them down on anything availble (toilet paper!) hhahahaha.
Settle down, On the "To-Do" list put top ten in yer Diary every morning in order importance ... score 5 outa 10 its a good day ... anything else is bonus!
Rest is easy ... House, Kitchen, workshop etc ... just have a note pad in permanent position.
NOT By bed!!!!! Sleep is sacred:) You better thinking in the morning anyway.
I'm a member of the "CRAFT" Club ... "Can't Remember A F**king Thing" But these rules help. hahhahahhaha
posted
i have two words for ya..palm pilot!!! i got one and i can't image life without it...as you do the stuff on your list..delete it..when something new comes in..punch it in...there's memo notes, date book, address book..everything can be so organized it makes me giddy and tingley just writing about it...when i have to go on location to measure truck doors or meet with clients...there it is..all nice and neat..you can even download pictures of your past projects and show your customers. i used to have little lists and post it notes everywhere...no more...it's in my palm pilot. and by the by, i think all of us truly creative souls have issues on some level...i happen to be a gadget/tool-aholic, chocoholic, i have attention deficit disorder and a few others i'm sure...it's just our minds go 10,000,000 miles an hour and it's hard for our bodies to physically keep up with our thought patterns.
-------------------- Karyn Bush Simply Not Ordinary, LLC Bartlett, NH 603-383-9955 www.snosigns.com info@snosigns.com Posts: 3516 | From: Bartlett, NH USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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When is the next meeting? I'm guilty of writing a list and then not being able to find it. I've tried books by the phone (darn, books not there, I'll just write on this napkin/envelope/hand) charts on the wall, and papers everywhere. I need help!
Suelynn
-------------------- "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -George Eliot
Suelynn Sedor Sedor Signs Carnduff, SK Canada Posts: 2863 | From: Carnduff, SK Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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quote:Originally posted by KARYN BUSH: ...i happen to be a gadget/tool-aholic, chocoholic, i have attention deficit disorder and a few others i'm sure...it's just our minds go 10,000,000 miles an hour and it's hard for our bodies to physically keep up with our thought patterns.
You must be a Gemini! I'm a Gemini/Cancer cusp (June 21) and according to a book I have here, I'm a Cancer with Gemini tendencies.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
I'm a bit of a list freak myself. Either I'm in denial, or I don't have the full scale syndrome.
One thing I never put on the list is to "consult list" but that probably wouldn't help because I never consult the list.
I am always working on 10 things at once. I don't maen having 10 on my plate & doing them in sequence, I mean all at once I scatter around from 3 things on my desk, 2 on my weeding table, 2 on my tool bench & at least 1 or 2 on each of my computers.
Every 2 or 3 hours I try to organize my desk out of fear of covering a priority thing that is not held in any mental RAM, but is fully reliant on being seen on my desk during the 10-thing shuffle. Consistent the fact that everyone elses needs take precedent over mine (including eating, urinating, or changing the CD) I don't consult the list because I'm busy with 10 other important things.
Sometime each week I finally clean up the little notes, post-it's & business cards tucked under the edge of my desk mat. (these are exempt from the 2-3 hour desk organizing which is prioritized by the size of the thing being proportionate to the number of important things it may be hiding)When I do stumble on an old list tucked under the mat, I often have the immense satisfaction of striking a line through 95% of the things that amazingly got done without consulting the list once. The 5% that wasn't done then gets transferred to the new list which will then be overlooked for another week. In fact even as I write a list the better part of my consciousness is aware that the act of writing it in itself is what prevents me from needing to read it.
The only other compulsive behavior I have ever been afflicted with relating to written documents is my need to throw them all away. 6 years ago when I started out running a business I could fit all the documents from my previous 38 years of life into a box smaller then a phone book, & over half of that was my kids artwork. (Photos & negs don't count, I've saved boxes of them) Of course now I need to pay rent on twice the office space I actually use in order to store all my files
One last comment on lists. I once wrote a poem or drew a drawing on the back of a list that ended up in my save box. When I was looking through my old stuff I saw the list on the back. It was very informative of my life at that time.
It was from when my first wife & I were both about 21 years old, freshly transplanted from the suburbs of Chicago into a rustic cabin in the woods outside of Eugene Oregon completely off the grid where we were raising our 1 year old baby. Between filling kerosene lanterns, digging & planting a veggie garden, meeting with the bulk food buying coop, raising money making & selling crafts at the market in town, cutting firewood (with a bowsaw...too poor for a chainsaw), hauling drinking water from the creek, replacing rusty stovepipes, digging a new latrine, buying flashlight batteries,...well it's no wonder I turned into a technology geek
[ March 26, 2003, 08:19 PM: Message edited by: Doug Allan ]
posted
no mike..i'm a big time capricorn..pretty much to the tee..strangley enough so is my husband..we were born on the same day and year...he's 2 hours older...but i'm more mature.
-------------------- Karyn Bush Simply Not Ordinary, LLC Bartlett, NH 603-383-9955 www.snosigns.com info@snosigns.com Posts: 3516 | From: Bartlett, NH USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
Gotta lov'em lists eh? They sure do keep you on track and in focus, when you use them dilligently! Hah ... that's the trick!
I keep those little yellow college ruled pads handy in the shop and work room for easy access to write stuff down as I think of it while I'm working.
One thing that has helped me has been something I call my "master list". It's a file of worksheets I've created for myself in Excel. Everything pertaining to anything gets jotted down in there, under various catagories. Even if I've jotted down things on my yellow pads during the day, they still end up on the master list (unless they get resolved sooner).
This way I've got it ALL in one place, and available in just a few clicks. I put goals down in there, and get such a good feeling as when I accomplish each one, I gray them out. I can also make priority items red and attach notes to cells elaborating with details if need be.
I've been real happy with this system.
Like Karyn, I think the palm pilot idea is good too, but haven't invested in one because I really don't travel around that much outside of my shop. Putting it on the computer is similar, just not as mobil. I still like physically writing stuff by hand, so I end up doing that when I'm away from my computer, and then entering it on my master list for the sake of not misplacing the notes.
Fellow "list-heads" unite! Nettie
-------------------- "When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"
posted
Lotti, that excel master list is a relatively new development in my on going struggle to "keep it together". I've been liking the results, but the other end of the scenario is of course, training myself to keep using it.
It's like anything else, ... a good plan doesn't work if it isn't put into play. As we all know, one day you could have it together, the next day it starts unraveling again. Yup, it's ongoing!
Some days are better than others. Nettie
-------------------- "When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"
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