List makin'

Before I came to college, I was somewhat disorganized. By somewhat, I mean that I didn't own a planner, and my backpack held a hurricane of papers.  Because I didn't own a planner, I usually showed up to what I had to with reminders from friends, and I usually found out about exams in the minutes soon before they took place. And, to be perfectly honest, my backpack only experienced a good clean out whenever my very brave math teacher would sit me down and force me to go through my papers (crumbled, stained and old though they were) and organize them into three ring binders (thanks KC). The LK in me was still slightly present.

Things have since changed. I have a planner that holds biblical value to me, I have binders and I am a list maker.  I make a new list at least once a day.

The lists can include anything - from household chores, to questions I need to ask people, to homework assignments that need to get done, to just about anything.  By making them, I rarely miss a beat. While I enjoy the success that has come from making them, my favorite part about the whole process is in the scratching off. Anyone who makes lists knows the feeling of relief in putting a big red line across a finished product. And that's why I'm writing this post.

I was thinking about what I do with all of those scratched-off lists.  They seem to end up in jacket pockets, in the washing machine, under the mats of my car or at the bottom of my backpack.  If I died tomorrow, the person in charge of cleaning out my belongings would think I was nuts--they would find half scratched off lists all over the damn place.

The truth to why they end up in unsavory places is because I don't throw them away.  I'm done with them, but I just can't get rid of them. I enjoy finding them.  I enjoy reminding myself that I do actually get stuff done.  So, I've decided, that with my new house will come a new system: I am designating a spot for these lists. A real spot. I'm now putting finished lists in a bag by my back door. So now, if I need a reminder of how I actually do get stuff done or I just want to entertain myself, I don't have to go rummaging through old oatmeal boxes or under my bed to find one. I will know exactly where they are:

When I finished using the shampoos that came in this bag, I couldn't make myself dispose of it because of the quotation on it.  I feel like the quotation is fitting for a bag that is carrying all of my scratched off priority life lists.

If you've never been a list-maker, I suggest you try it. I kid you not --- the feeling of relief that comes with scratching off the least enjoyable of priorities transforms them into something worthwhile.