Shannon Philpott-Sanders

To-Do List Irony

With the start of a new school year, the tasks I must complete on a daily basis have been overloading my brain. As much as I try, I’m not an organized person. I struggle to remember birthdays, deadlines, and even lunch money for my kiddos, and have forgotten all three just this week.

 In an effort to calm the stress and guilt of forgetting what I need to do, I sat down and created a to-do list. This list was much too long and overwhelming, so I divided it into three lists – one for my tasks at work/school, one for my freelance work, and one for home.

 Shortly after I finished the lists, I developed a strong hate for the memo pad of chores.

 It is now my enemy – not one I must conquer, one that will taunt me for the next few weeks knowing I cannot defeat it in this lifetime. It’s like that annoying kid on the playground taunting “Na Na Na Na Na, You can’t catch me.”

 It taunts me with negative thoughts: Think you will clean out the turtle tank this week? Doubt it. Gonna finish researching for that article? Like you’ll have time between soccer practice and cub scouts. Revise the student newspaper manual? Won’t happen this semester.

 What began as a positive organization technique evolved into a spiral of negativity that is about as motivating as a nickel to one of my kids to complete a week’s worth of household chores. With negative thoughts flowing in rapid form, I ripped up the three to-do lists and trashed them.

 I need motivation and I need positivity. For me, the two go hand in hand. So, I began a new list – my positive thoughts list. The plan is to complete one of my tasks from my mental inventory of things to-do, read and then cross off a positive, motivating quote for the day.

 I haven’t crossed anything off yet, though, because I can’t remember any of the tasks from the first three to-do lists.  

– Shannon Philpott
Blog Entry: Aug. 25, 2009

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August 25, 2009 - Posted by sphilpott | Blog, Reflecting | chores, overworked, stress, stress management, tasks, to do list