The Power of a List

A list is only as strong as its weakest link. - Donald Knuth, American Scientist (b. 1938)

Some of you are really good at making lists...especially "to-do" lists! There is some satisfaction in crossing things off the list for many people. Believe it or not, there are those among us who add things to the "to do" list after having done them...just to get to cross them off the list! Imagine that...

Lists can be good, they serve a purpose in some ways...and only for a certain amount of time. The power of a list is to take each "to-do", and give it a place. Once you make a list, get out your calendar and schedule each item. Even if the schedule takes you into next year or beyond, put those things in their place.

A list without a time and place to do each thing on it, is just your subconscious wondering when, when, when!!!

If we continue to make lists, and more lists, and different lists, we attempt to get organized, and what we really do is potentially fry our minds. Go ahead, make that "to-do" list, and then, right after it, schedule when and where you are going to accomplish those things, and then destroy the sheet on which you wrote your list...and then watch your "to-do"s become the catalyst(s) for action, and the first step in results rather than a piece of paper with lines and lines of things you haven't done!

The Power of a BYE List

Our thoughts create our reality - where we put our focus is where we tend to go."


- Peter McWilliams, writer and self-publisher of best-selling self-help books (1949-2000)

The invitations are aleady coming. Turkeys are being bought. Families are preparing for "that" uncle or "that" aunt who does "such-and-such" each year during the holidays. Wow, the holidays are nearly here!

Before you get too caught up in the idea of stuffing and shopping, please consider creating a BYE list. This BYE list will include all you want to do
Before
Year
End

If you make a list of events, people, experiences, and travels, you can decide what is realistic for the amount of time you have before you are ringing in 2012. For the BYE list, start and finish it within 48 hours, and ask anyone with whom you spend a lot of time (spouse, family, friend) to do the same. After you complete it, prioritize those items on the list, and meet with anyone else you asked to make the BYE list. In doing this, you will learn about you, learn about the other person/people, and you can decide what you will do together and what you will do alone or with other people. From there, get out your calendars (phones/iPads), and make the commitment to what you want to do so that you are not standing somewhere on New Year's Eve wishing "if I only had", and excusing it with "but the holidays were so busy".

Go enjoy the things on your list, and make the most of the next 50+ days before 2011 has gone BYE!