{"id":11365,"date":"2013-01-25T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2013-01-25T15:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=11365"},"modified":"2013-01-25T09:44:49","modified_gmt":"2013-01-25T16:44:49","slug":"what-i-have-learned-about-organizing-my-thoughts-with-lists-and-charts-and-how-the-dog-can-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/what-i-have-learned-about-organizing-my-thoughts-with-lists-and-charts-and-how-the-dog-can-help\/","title":{"rendered":"What I Have Learned About Organizing My Thoughts With Lists and Charts and How the Dog Can Help"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>I make lists and charts to organize my thoughts AND relieve the tension in my brain.<\/strong> \u00a0I find that the act of writing down ideas and goals<em><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"> activates a subconscious problem solving feature of my mind.<\/span> <\/em>\u00a0It seems to be the programming that came with <a href=\"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/you-cant-get-inside-my-head-and-i-cant-get-out\/\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;the unit.&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0 Earlier in my life, I used to feel more pressure from lists. \u00a0Now, lists set me free!<\/p>\n<p><strong>That&#8217;s not to say I don&#8217;t refer to the lists and check things off.<\/strong> \u00a0I do. \u00a0But just the act of making the list stimulates some sort of automatic scheduling process.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Some things are priorities,<\/li>\n<li>some are time sensitive, and<\/li>\n<li>some are just reminders.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Perhaps it is strange, but one of the best times for me to make a list is at the end of the day.<\/strong> \u00a0I think it is because what I haven&#8217;t gotten done is floating in the corners of my mind. \u00a0In fact, <em><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">keeping something to write with by my bedside has resulted in much more peaceful sleep.<\/span><\/em> \u00a0Those floating ideas inevitably come up right behind my eyeballs as soon as I get comfortable.<\/p>\n<p><strong>There are other things I have learned about lists and charts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><em>Make use of permanent, sometimes re-printable, lists and charts to save time.<\/em> <\/span>\u00a0Post them where you need it. \u00a0For instance, the garden watering chart is close to the back door &#8211; with a pen handy.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><em>Make categorized lists or charts every few months.<\/em><\/span> \u00a0I have separate lists for\u00a0gardening, home repair, gift giving, vehicle maintenance, accounting, etc. \u00a0These lists and charts tend to make family communications flow better. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42 \u00a0 Once over half of the items have been crossed off, it gets hard to read, so I re-do it. \u00a0Post these types of lists at the administrative center and\/or the location of activity.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><em>Write a new daily list for most days.<\/em> <\/span>\u00a0Each day is different. \u00a0<span style=\"color: #993300;\">(However, I usually give myself one day a week to do <em>whatever<\/em> I want <em>whenever<\/em> I feel like it.)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><em>Use a blank page, journal-type book <\/em><\/span>(best)<em> or spiral notebook<\/em> (these tend to fall apart more easily&#8230;), <em>so that it is easy to flip back and see what might have gotten missed recently.<\/em> \u00a0Put the date at the top of each day. \u00a0I don&#8217;t use a highly structured planner because it doesn&#8217;t leave me enough flexibility for how I want to make notes.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><em>Don&#8217;t be bothered by &#8220;carry over.&#8221;<\/em> <\/span>\u00a0It will either reveal to you that something really isn&#8217;t a priority OR it will remind you enough that you will finally get it done.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><em>Have codes for how things are marked.<\/em><\/span> \u00a0I put a straight line through completed tasks. \u00a0It visually blocks it, but neatly. \u00a0However, I use a squiggly when transferring something to another day. \u00a0That helps me when I am looking back and forth between lists. \u00a0I sometimes use different color highlighters when items involve different family members. \u00a0I will often highlight time sensitive items.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><em>Leave room for notes and adjustments.<\/em> <\/span>\u00a0Just a calendar with appointments is not sufficient for me. \u00a0Life is more that just filling time slots.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><em>Leave yourself wiggle room.<\/em> <\/span>\u00a0Don&#8217;t let the organization inhibit useful creativity or worthwhile conversations.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><em>Schedule fun and relaxation to some extent.<\/em><\/span> \u00a0Sometimes tell yourself when to stop working. \u00a0Sometimes make sure you do something you want to.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Be realistic. \u00a0<em>Okay, I don&#8217;t really know how to do this.<\/em> <\/span>\u00a0And on second thought, why? \u00a0If you want to have fun with your lists and enjoy the challenge, make them as crazy as you want. \u00a0Just realize what you are doing and don&#8217;t get stressed out about it!<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><em>Make people in your life a priority.<\/em> <\/span>\u00a0For me, this means two things: \u00a01) I treat what they want done as important, and 2) I try to be aware of just being with people, instead of always doing things.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The lists and charts are your tools.<\/strong> \u00a0You are the Master. \u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><em>They are there to be used as flexibly or as routinely as helps you<\/em> <\/span>accomplish the things you need and want to do. \u00a0Sometimes, you could even make the list from another point of view, say the family dog&#8217;s, just for the fun of it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do morning check of the yard, including walking the perimeter for guard dog practice<\/li>\n<li>Help lick the left-over breakfast bowls while Mom cleans the kitchen<\/li>\n<li>Let chickens out and <a href=\"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/beginning-steps-in-training-my-chicken-guard-dog\/\" target=\"_blank\">sniff their feathers, since the fam is letting me do that now&#8230;<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Sing while kids practice the piano<\/li>\n<li>Check on the cats sleeping indoors<\/li>\n<li>Go on run with Mom<\/li>\n<li>Lay around on Mom&#8217;s feet while she pays the bills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Let your kids make your list and their lists some days and see what they come up with.<\/strong> \u00a0\ud83d\ude42 <\/span><\/span><em><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/em><em><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"> \u00a0<\/span><\/em><em><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Have \u00a0fun while you get things done!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I make lists and charts to organize my thoughts AND relieve the tension in my brain. \u00a0I find that the act of writing down ideas and goals activates a subconscious problem solving feature of my mind. \u00a0It seems to be the programming that came with &#8220;the unit.&#8221;\u00a0 Earlier in my life, I used to feel [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20],"tags":[40],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}