You know, a List of things you are going to get to. Your, “I have to do List”.

How many things on that List have you put off, procrastinated over or just plain not ever gotten to?

Have you noticed how the things that you put off drain your energy?

I know someone who jokes, “It’s on my List. Oh no, that means it will never get done!”

It is like putting something in a “safe” place. I had to stop doing that. When I put something in a “safe” place, for some reason, I was unable to find it again. It was like my mind equated safe with never being found again and erased the memory of my “safe” hiding place.

A list is suppose to help us get tasks done that would otherwise be forgotten. In my friend’s case, her List is like the “safe” place. She knows there are these things that need to be addressed, but other activities keep getting in the way and taking up all her energy, so she’s unable to get to the tasks on her List. Eventually, she gets to most of them. But the energy drain she goes through with the knowledge that there are things she “should” get to but is unable to, for some very good reasons, could power a small town.

What about you? What is your to do list like? Do you use your List to get tasks done or do you use it to beat yourself up for all the things you’ve yet to get to?

Take a look at your List. Is it a helpful memory tool or has it become something larger and maybe even harmful?

Sometimes there are things on your List that don’t belong there. You may be taking on something that isn’t in your best interests and your inner self is letting you know this by avoiding taking the action.

If there are things that have been on your list for longer than a week and you haven’t gotten to them, reevaluate. You only have so much energy and anywhere it is being drained is not serving you.

If you are beating yourself up and draining your energy over “should have’s”, there is a very good possibility that you have an issue with completion. There it is… another “C” word and a subject for another posting.

Until then, grab your List by its corners and make it work for you, not on you.

You can… I believe in you.

- Gwen Baran