I do, I love them!! Sometimes I even have lists for the lists, these, however, are probably more accurately called prioritising when I have a lot to do.
As the wonderful holiday period starts to come to an end and people are either already back at work, heading back to work and school we need to get organised. To help kick-start your way back to the routine of normal life, give yourself 10 minutes and sit down and just write down what needs to be done for things to run smoothly and those few days before heading back to work/school and you don’t forget anything if in a mad hurry!
Another great way to use lists is to change a behaviour or create a new habit. Given that it is still the New Year most people are either starting or have started their new year’s resolutions which usually mean changing certain things that they do or are aiming for something. When we want to change something that we do it is a good idea to research what is needed for the change so that you can be organised and then make a list of how you will be organised to commit to participating in those activities that mean the change can happen. For example, committing to an improvement in health and fitness:
• Set alarm every morning for two weeks to work out
• Have workout clothes and bag ready the night before
• Keep shopping up to date so that healthy fresh food is available for preparation during the week.
• Prep the following morning’s breakfast or smooth the night before, pack leftovers or make salad in a jar for lunch the night before.
Once these activities are committed to and actively participated in every day for the first 2-4 weeks it is much easier to make this a habit change for the better. The first two weeks won’t be fun because you will actively have to make yourself complete the new activities to make the changes a habit, but as you keep doing it, it becomes easier (a habit) and then it becomes automatic. It is just like when you started a new job, you needed to put the time into learning the new processes, environment, people, differences in the knowledge base, but after awhile it becomes second nature and you just do your job.
Another change might be to have positive thoughts and not participate in negative conversations or conversations that leave you feeling negative:
• Consider the thoughts that you have that are not positive
• Consider why you have them, write it down
• Where did these thoughts come from?
• Are there people that you spend time with that leave you feeling, down, negative?
• Consider ways to reduce the amount of time spent with those people and find a nice way to let them know that you need to go or that don’t wish to discuss the things that make you feel negative, unhappy.
• Consider different activities that you could do together that would change the thoughts or the types of conversations, if the other person or people aren’t happy to participate then you need to make the decisions that are right for you and that will support the changes that you want to see in yourself. Remember you can not change another person, only yourself.
• If it is negative thoughts, have a list of things that you can say to yourself, or do to distract from the thoughts and move to a more positive thought pattern.
Have fun with the lists, the changes and the new year.
And if you would like some assistance with lists, goals setting or achieving a particular goal/s let me know masteryofdoing@gmail.com
