To do list thoughts
May. 6th, 2007 11:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hmpfThe master to do list that I compiled from all my old to do lists as well as all the recent stuff that wasn't on any list yet but also needs to be done? There's well over 70 items on it at the moment.
Thankfully, a large number of those are of the "easy/quick", or "not of immediate importance" varieties.
Still, if I don't get a *large* part of it done fairly soon this list will grow into exactly the kind of monster that nearly strangled me a couple of times already.
And for those who know a bit about to do lists: yes, the items on it are ordered according to priority. There are currently six different priority categories. The hierarchy of these categories isn't completely linear, though - e.g. anything to do with friends and family generally has a high priority, at least in theory, but is in fact 'outranked' by most uni stuff as well as urgent financial and 'bureaucratic' stuff if such occurs. Similarly, the two top categories are in fact of more or less equal importance, the only difference between them being that things in category 1 are easily and/or quickly done, and things in category 2 are a bit more difficult/time-consuming. Also, writing is 'officially' in the lowest-priority category but is in fact the one thing in that category that I intend to make a permanent space for in my life. Etc.
My greatest problem with the idea of prioritising, though, is the great disparity between Things That Are Easy and Things That Are Difficult/Take A Lot Of Time. On the one hand, it doesn't really make sense to postpone the Things That Are Easy, because then a lot of little things start to pile up and can, by sheer mass, become overwhelming. On the other hand, if you always try to do all the small things first - *and*, in addition to taking care of those, attend and prepare for seminars, *and* go to work, *and* go for walks so you may, perhaps, be able to sleep at night, *and* do the shopping, *and* at least occasionally cook/eat healthily, *and* do your share of household chores, *and* occasionally, perhaps, even see a friend or visit family or whatever, *and* etc. - then all the small things soon begin to crowd out the bigger, more difficult, but often very important things. And if you do that *long* enough, then the big, difficult, important things start to pile up, and *that* is the stuff that nervous breakdowns are made of.
(And somehow, there are *always* several big, important, difficult things in my life at once, which exacerbates the problem.)
Thankfully, a large number of those are of the "easy/quick", or "not of immediate importance" varieties.
Still, if I don't get a *large* part of it done fairly soon this list will grow into exactly the kind of monster that nearly strangled me a couple of times already.
And for those who know a bit about to do lists: yes, the items on it are ordered according to priority. There are currently six different priority categories. The hierarchy of these categories isn't completely linear, though - e.g. anything to do with friends and family generally has a high priority, at least in theory, but is in fact 'outranked' by most uni stuff as well as urgent financial and 'bureaucratic' stuff if such occurs. Similarly, the two top categories are in fact of more or less equal importance, the only difference between them being that things in category 1 are easily and/or quickly done, and things in category 2 are a bit more difficult/time-consuming. Also, writing is 'officially' in the lowest-priority category but is in fact the one thing in that category that I intend to make a permanent space for in my life. Etc.
My greatest problem with the idea of prioritising, though, is the great disparity between Things That Are Easy and Things That Are Difficult/Take A Lot Of Time. On the one hand, it doesn't really make sense to postpone the Things That Are Easy, because then a lot of little things start to pile up and can, by sheer mass, become overwhelming. On the other hand, if you always try to do all the small things first - *and*, in addition to taking care of those, attend and prepare for seminars, *and* go to work, *and* go for walks so you may, perhaps, be able to sleep at night, *and* do the shopping, *and* at least occasionally cook/eat healthily, *and* do your share of household chores, *and* occasionally, perhaps, even see a friend or visit family or whatever, *and* etc. - then all the small things soon begin to crowd out the bigger, more difficult, but often very important things. And if you do that *long* enough, then the big, difficult, important things start to pile up, and *that* is the stuff that nervous breakdowns are made of.
(And somehow, there are *always* several big, important, difficult things in my life at once, which exacerbates the problem.)
So ist das Leben...
Date: 2007-05-07 01:02 pm (UTC)Das ist alles der ganz normale Wahnsinn. Don´t worry, you´ll manage it - und manche Sachen erledigen sich auch von selbst...;-P
Kiki
PS:Sorry, my English-speaking brain-cells are currently a little bit im Eimer, daher der language-mix...