Cecily's list

by Cecily Markland

It seems I'm great at makings lists. I write "to-do" lists while sitting in church or waiting for my computer to boot up. I make grocery lists while driving, I scribble lists of bills to pay, lists of people to call, gifts to buy, ideas to flesh into a novel or article. I list things I remember from class, snippets of information I need to pass on to my sister, you know, lists. My lists are written in every color of ink, and I use any shape or size of paper. If you'd gather my lists together, I'd have a great wip--or at least a novel-length manuscript, though the content may be a little redundant, the action a little lackluster, and the conclusion, well, the conclusion would be non-existent.

Which brings me to the point of all this. I've decided to take up a new genre! I'm scrapping my "to-do" lists, my one- or two-word "wishful thinkings" and, instead, spending time each day to write a "DID list."

I wish I'd decided this on my own. Rather, it came as a suggestion from a great motivator, Donna Boyette. She says:

Don't keep a to-do list, keep a Did list instead.
The things you don't do stay undone when you're dead.
What you plan to do won't matter unless done.
Things you don't do are recalled by no one.
So keep a Did list and review it each day.
If the list is empty, give your TV away!

Great idea, don't you think?

I'll now add "ANWA Blog" to my "Did" list for today, then I better sign off and go see if my "2006 taxes" is going to make the "Did" list as well!

Cecily