One of my dearest friends from Georgia taught me a lesson she learned from her mom. Make a list each day of the things you want to accomplish. Even if you've already made the bed, write it on your list and cross it off. At least you'll accomplish one thing in your day.
We called her mom "Nanny Gran Gran" or ngg for short. She was a wise southern lady. In the early days of my retirement, I found that making my ngg list each day was very helpful. So many times when I didn't make a list, I'd find myself all done with my day and then say "DANG! I was going to call that insurance company today and forgot." Somedays there were more than one thing that I forgot to do. I learned quickly to write it down so I wouldn't forget the next day. Make an ngg list!
For the most part I don't have a clue what I do all day in my retirement but I can assure you I keep pretty busy. Back when I did IT for the Rockdale Schools, I learned that it was best to do my brain work in the morning and the physical work in the afternoon. I still find this is best. Computer bookkeeping, research, personal correspondence, etc., are all best in the morning. Blogging? Well sometimes late at night, but that's another story. The day's cleaning chores, laundry, errands, etc., are best in the afternoon. But even with a list and seemingly more spare time, I can't tell you when the last time I really had time to clean well. Between my mom, Jack and I there are plenty of medical and other appointments that keep us busy, too. Such as, in the last 4 weeks - 7 medical appointments and 7 other appointments. But all that is just calendar maintenance. Back to the daily list making.
Yesterday morning I made a quick list of 11 things to accomplish. I did 10. I'm thinking #11 will wait till tomorrow, since today (Tuesday) is the one day I give myself a little down time in the morning. I make my grocery list, then have lunch at my mom's, then I will walk around Walmart in circles with her list and mine. It hasn't helped a thing that our Walmart recently rearranged everything! And no where on the shelves do I see Bran Flakes. Not even a little tab to indicate they will be getting them back. Yes, I'm on a bit of a soap box about that. I love my Bran Flakes. I guess that's not a soap box - it's a cereal box. NO, not RAISIN Bran. Bran Flakes only! Having raisins in anything is like biting into a bug.
Back in the days when I had a full time job, a hockey schedule, a PTA schedule, a softball schedule, a tennis schedule and still lived in a house where dust, debris and laundry would pile up... I didn't do ngg lists. I just took care of whatever was in front of me. Sometimes though in order to remember to do something at work when I got there, I'd e-mail my school e-mail from home. And sometimes in order to remember to do something at home, I'd e-mail my home e-mail from work. Okay, it wasn't just "sometimes", it was "many times". I was thankful for the technology of the times. I had the latest device to keep my work and home calendar synced. Somehow I made it through without an ngg list. Although at the holidays, there was always a list.
One of the best things about my ngg lists is that if I start my day by making the list and writing down all the things I want to get done that day, it helps me focus. I can get distracted and forgetful. It's so easy to get lost in the tangents of the day. Have you ever read a Meme similar to this:
"I needed to do the laundry, but then I realized I was out of detergent, so I went to write a shopping list and realized how unorganized the junk drawer was and started checking all the pens for ink. When I went to toss all the junk, I saw that the trash was full but before I took it out I wanted to get rid of old food in the fridge. That's when I realized a juice jug had leaked so I needed to clean it up but when I went to grab a rag, I saw that the pantry closest was a nightmare so I started organizing it. And that's how I ended up on the floor looking at my old photo albums from the 1990's and did not get the laundry done"
Now having an ngg list will not keep all the above from happening, but when you get up from looking at your old photo albums, you can refer back to your list and see that "laundry" is still on the list. Depending on the time of day, you may just move it to tomorrow's ngg list.
My Longaberger friends know me as the "Notepad Queen". I still am. I'm currently sitting at my desktop computer and can see 5 notepads and 4 pages torn off and written on.
I guess I should read one of them. Oh, yes, the grocery list is in the kitchen and with Alexa.
Time to go!
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