Sunday, December 30, 2012

GRATITUDE - December 30, 2012

I AM GRATEFUL FOR LISTS.

Hi.  My name is Bob and I am a List Addict. 

I feel better already.

I have always been a maker and keeper of lists.  Post-It notes, napkins, envelope backs, notepaper, legal paper, spiral notebooks, etc. have been my friends and my bane for as long as I can remember (not remembering so well, is one of the reasons I keep the lists). 

My life is overly full with "must do" projects from grocery lists, backyard remodel projects, music to learn how to play, daily routines I would like to adopt, blah-blah...They keep me on track to accomplish far more than I ever would with my eratic memory cells.

I seem to have greater recollection from the 70's (now, that is odd, considering) than what I did last week.  There is a warm sense of satisfaction to 'crossing something off' my list.  I have been known to have added (to my current working list) all the things I have done already today, just so I can 'cross them off'.  I tried erasing them when done, but the satisfaction at the end of the day just isn't the same....as there will always be 100+ things 'yet to do', the never-ending list that will never be finished.

Now that I am retired, with far more time to work on my lists, my listofthingsnotdoneaphobia seems to have gotten worse, not better.  I also have more time to add to my lists at about triple the speed of 'crossing them off'.

A friend sent me a JukeBox link to Top Music Hits of Your favorite Year.  As I skipped down memory lane of my high school and college years (1962-1969) and my rock-n-roll adventures of the 70's...I was able to 'add' to my 'must learn how to play' list about 40 songs in about 60 minutes....the challenge is, that it takes several days to learn how to play each song well enough to 'cross it off'.  One minute to add something; much more than that to finish it (clean and organize hall closet)....5 seconds to write down, 2 weeks to brood over it and a full day to accomplish.

Therein, lies my delicious dilemma.  I love lists.  I love accomplishments and self-accolades for getting a project properly done.  My innate ability to make the front end of the list project grow at a far more accelerated rate than the back end of 'done that' check offs will keep me busy for years. 

It has become my personal "Winchester Mystery House" project where Sarah Winchester, widow of the Winchester Firearms fortune heir, believed she wouldn't die as long as she kept remodeling her home.  There is a fascinating Northern California day trip to see staircases that lead into brick walls, secret passages, etc.

I cannot comprehend what I would do with my time if I actually finished everything on my lists.  Now my Android SmartPhone keeps my multitude of lists handy at all times - destroying 'cloud bytes' instead of trees to keep my massive to-do project in play.  If I stopped adding to it right now - I figure I would still have many years of projects to work on that are already on the list.

It worked for Sarah Winchester for 83 years....I am good with that.

rlw

Two more days til 2013. One more Gratitude Blog to go.  It has been fun and personally satisfying.




  -      Robert Welton: Twitter                     

-        Robert Welton: FaceBook 

-        Robert Welton: LinkedIn          

 

·        My Blogs              




-       http://gratitude-alittlegoesalongway.blogspot.com/          


        Write Your Own Hub

 

YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/user/aaasportsstuff

No comments:

Post a Comment