When I say I like things to stay the same, I think I really mean it. I just ate the very same omelet I eat every day at this time, and these are the twelve Moleskin planners I’ve used for the last twelve years.
I do many things the same, day after day after day. I like the consistency, the simplicity, even the ”rut” if you want to call it that. And yes, I know that trying new things are good, very good actually, so I am working on that idea…in certain areas. One thing that I don't plan to change is making my daily to-do list. Each evening before bed, I look at the things I have written in my Moleskin planner (allocating activities, appointments, and action steps to various days in the future) and write those items on the next day’s to-do list. This is my list for today.
Yesterday, a friend who knows me well sent me a link to this Lazy Genius podcast episode about to-do lists. Without adding the podcast to my to-do list to listen to (surprise! surprise!), I simply clicked on the link, saw that the episode was only 15 minutes long, and decided to listen right away while I was in the kitchen making dinner. And wow, it was good! Some of my favorite lines were these:
“The main thing to remember here with your to-do list is simply a directive on what matters and what you need to do to support what matters. It helps you to not forget of course and it’s very fun to cross off the thing, to feel productive and that you accomplished something, but if we don’t remember the main point here is to do what matters... I mean, if it says “to do” that means the doing is worth doing.”
I quickly identified myself as a tracker, among the three list-making types Kendra identified. I won't give all the details away here in case you choose to listen to the episode, but as Kendra said that trackers are prone to do, I depend on my list to move forward during the day. That is 100% me. I keep the notebook with my list on the kitchen island, and my list is what directs me from one thing to another as the day progresses. I love this system and I feel like it works well for me. But if you’re not a tracker, there’s probably a better system for you. Gretchen Rubin talks often about building our habits on the foundation of who we are. I’m a tracker; who are you?
P.S. I wonder what would happen if I put “try something new” on the list every once in a while? Watch out!