Lists

Back in high school, I had a friend who, each Sunday, would make up a list of what she was going to do each night.

Going to the mall would be Monday night’s activity. Tuesday would be to go to the driving range with Brainy. Wednesday, there was a hockey game. Thursday would be the night to go out to eat then stay in to watch her favorite tv show. Friday would be a movie. Saturday would be an all-day hike.

I used to think she was nuts. Always busy. Always had something to do, somewhere to go — no downtime. None. It had to be exhausting.

Then I tried it about 5 years later.

It was awesome. Each day, I’d sit at work not wondering what I was going to do when I got home, instead I sat there looking forward to something I’d already planned out. Most of the time, I head out and do it straight from the office.

Sadly, for reasons I’m unsure of, it only lasted a few weeks.

Fast forward 10 years… These days I often find myself overwhelmed with things to do — and no “list” or scheduled agenda to adhere to.

Most nights, I come home from work, eat, and veg on the couch watching the news for a few hours before getting things done. And more often than not, I never get to the projects I have in my imaginary list that’s floating around in my head.

A common question that I ask my wife each day, morning actually, is “What’s for dinner?” I know she hates it. It’s like it puts pressure on her to think of something that I’ll like each day, and I can understand that considering my limited tastes. It’s like a last minute project…every day. That’s never any fun.

This past Sunday, we made a list for the whole week. I know what’s for dinner tonight. I know what’s for dinner tomorrow night too. And I’m looking forward to taco night on Friday!

Rewind to last week, at this hour, I’d have been sorta in limbo about what was for dinner that night. Friday, well, I can’t say I’d have even thought about what would be for dinner more than one day in the future.

This new way of doing things is certainly an improvement. And financially it will be an improvement too. My wife knew exactly what to buy at the grocery store this week and we’ll end up throwing out a lot less than we usually do. Not that we threw out a ton anyway, but every now and then the ground beef goes bad, you know what I mean? That shouldn’t be a problem anymore.

From here, now I just have to expand the list to include not only dinner but activities too, so I can get some of these great ideas out of my head and actually done… before I forget about them entirely.