Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Getting Things Done

The snowplow woke me up at 4am (okay, so I didn't roll out of bed until 4:20), so I figured this morning would be a good opportunity to talk about getting things done.  Especially since I'm finished with both my blogroll and my Facebook reading already and it's not even 6.

The other day I wrote a couple posts about being lost in a handful of kitty toys without a lifeguard.  I was drowning in a sea of things to do and not getting any of them accomplished.  Everyone was sympathetic and helpful and awesome in the comments.  (Thanks, Everyone.)  A few of people even commented about putting everything on a list and checking even the smallest things off to give myself a sense of accomplishment.  (Thanks Janet, Colene and Alleged.)  I took their advice.

As of yesterday, almost everything from that first list is crossed off - with the exception of my taxes which are almost done.  The biggest item was, of course, finishing UEQ.  It was the clot in my writerly artery.  (I know, eww gross, but the analogy works for me and it's less disgusting than the other analogy I can think of.)  Once I pushed through that, everything else seemed to flow. 

A few of the crossed off items are:

Finish UEQ
Update agent database
Research more agents and add them to database
Clean the toilets
Find and sort receipts for taxes
Enter receipts into spreadsheet
Work on taxes

The new list includes:

Finish taxes
Review DLN query
Send new batch of queries
Address Blink errors & decide whether it's still viable to query
Purge files
Clean the kitchen

So, if you're lost in a handful of kitty toys without a big hunk to pull you free, take a lesson from my blog pals and myself.  Make a list, cross it off, and feel great when you can wad that sucker up to throw away.

What do you feel good about accomplishing this week?

4 comments:

  1. Awesome!! You have so much done!! I love lists. So handy!

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  2. You are on a roll, B.E. - I should have used you as my Inspiration Wednesday over on the Journal ;)

    Lists really do help you to focus! Glad they sorted out all the kitty toys and got you where you need to be. And, OMG, 4:20? Seriously?

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  3. Don't you hate how when you accomplish a lot, there still seems to be so much to do?

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  4. You're so productive! I'm jealous.

    This week, the only thing on my to-do list is "make a to-do list". Yep, I'm sad.

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