Here a list, there a list, everywhere a meta-list

As I noted somewhere in the last paragraph of the previous post, I had a to-do list that I tried to get to all weekend. I know it involved doing some web design stuff, getting to the end of the Illustrator tutorial book that I bought, and starting to work on the site design for a new project. It was in chart form, with each project in its own row with columns labeled "by tomorrow", "by Sunday" and "by next month".

I was very proud of my to-do list. It was exactly like the ones you see in all of those "how to get your life organized" articles that sites like msn.com are always posting. The only problem is that while my birthday is July 26, I am a closet Gemini. One side of my personality makes a list, files it away with the other lists, memorizes it, and plans to execute it. The other side finds the list, laughs hysterically and says "What are you, some kind of geek? Grab a beer out of the fridge, sit your ass down on the couch, and watch some OnDemand for chrissakes. You are paying for cable tv right? Might as well enjoy it."

In a good week I might get one or two things done, shove about 20 other things into the back corner of my head, and pat myself on the back for getting to the grocery store with an actual list of stuff to buy. For extra credit, maybe I'll sift through two weeks of mail and throw all the junk mail out.

So where does all of this lead to? If you really want to know the awful sick truth (and you must if you are still actually reading this), I get a charge out of getting something tangible accomplished. All I want is to be able to pick up my mail at night, see the department store credit card bill, and know that in 5 seconds I can see the bill from last month with the "paid" note written on it, sitting in a file folder, in chronological order and filed alphabetically. The war in Iraq could go on into the next decade and I would be able to sleep soundly knowing that all of my downloaded articles on how to get the best mortgage deals are indexed in a 3-ring binder. No wonder my first job was in a library.

Of course I know there is more to life than filing away credit card payments and information that will be outdated by the time I actually read it. Probably the best way to exploit my inner nerd is to narrow down the obsession a little so I'm actually focusing on what really matters. Life is too short to worry about having matching labels on the spice jars, but it's also too short to let stuff that I really want to get done drift by the wayside.

Here a list, there a list, everywhere a meta-list