Monday - Entry 25
Sunday is a day of rest, so I did not use my 3do list except to get myself ready yesterday morning. The children arrived and I was quite busy helping them settle in. Interacting with them after two weeks apart was wonderful. I made dinner for the Brownie, Leprechaun & Elf—portabella mushroom pizza. We had a good time together.
Oddly, I felt sicker on Day 54, but I still tried to enjoy their company to the best of my ability. It was Day 55—today—that I was most disappointed in. I was much sicker today. Even though I had slept for seven hours, I was neurologically off as well. There was even an underlying low note of depression. Gee, I wonder why. It's never a joy to tic uncontrollably, but I had big plans for myself & my 3do list today, so I found the setback very disappointing. All is not lost, however. Now I know my 3do list isn't a miracle cure for cancer, it can't establish world peace, and I can't rely on it to get rid of greasy stains.
The Depression wasn't linked to any event, so I used my coping tools to sweep it away under a metaphorical rug, then got on with my day. Thank goodness the Leprechaun was so helpful. She did extra work, and I rewarded her magnanimous generosity with extra TV time. Since shared that TV time with me, it was win-win.
Over the weekend I also found several references to Stephen Covey's top three, which didn't surprise me. First of all, I used a modified version of Covey's task list system. I just utilized whatever todo list app I was using to set my top three as “high priority”, not “A”. I then tried to only have five with medium priority, Covey's “B”, then dump the rest in low priority, “C”. Anything with no priority didn't waste my time. Because of his inspiration I already had a top three to experiment with. Bless you, Mr. Covey.
Secondly, my 3do list solution was so amazingly simply that I was surprised nobody had thought of it before. In fact, I was certain that others already had and that my only “innovation” was to separate the top three into their own list. Then a reader of my blog shared with me an app that did exactly that, though it was intended for three top tasks per day. My 3dos were a bit more hyper.
And now it is no longer Monday and I must hurry off to bed. There are buses and doctors and grumpy children to deal with in the morning. I will need my wits about me, especially if I hope to make something of my day alone while the girls are away. This is my new system's big test. Can it work while I juggle single parent duties? Can it help me find more clients for my web content freelance work? Will it help me make my goals of finishing and publishing books, or will I simply find it super spiffy at knocking off chores? I need this epiphany to mean something. I need to see my life transformed by this. I have hope—glistening-eyed, starry, smiley hope—that my 3do list system will help me be the productive person I not only want to be, but the person I desperately need to be.
3dos helped me write all of February's blogs for A Splintered Mind and my new gig over the weekend. Now I want to see it help me finish my assignments, earn some extra dough to buy the kids clothes, pay my bills, and maybe help me improve our quality of life. I'm not expecting much, right?
~Dˢ
