Sometimes I look at my to-do list for the day and just get…overwhelmed by it all. I like to write down every little task I have to do, because my brain doesn’t like to hold onto things. So that every-little-thing list can end up getting pretty long. Here, for example, is everything on my list for today:
- Call Vanguard
- CGX workout
- 1 hr audiobook
- 20 minutes reading
Commonplace bookRight-handed writing practice- Daily post (hey-o!)
- Marriage of Convenince scene work
- XBX with the kids
- Pack Garage office area
- Arrange Disclosure Day date (buy tickets, get sitter)
- 10k steps
- Weekly Same-Page meeting
- Video of kids singing the Bluey song together
- Video of the girls saying “makin”/”nakin” (napkin)
- 5 minutes photo clear
- Pentecost 2027 reminder on calendar (wear green, bring greens)
- Bathe kids
- Homework with kids
- 5pm tacos & margs on the patio
How many things is that? I don’t know, a lot. 15? My brain is forcing me to count. 20. Many of those 20 items — 9, to be exact — are very short tasks that take 5 minutes or less to do.
So, one strategy I have when dealing with overwhelming lists like these is to just choose the “next three things” to do (hence the name, get it?), adding another thing to the bottom of the NTT list when the top one is crossed out.
Right now, my NTT list is as follows:
- Write daily blog post
- Pack the Garage office area
- Do CGX workout
Those are actually three pretty chonky tasks, but I know that the things I choose after I cross those out will be more administrative/computer tasks: write the Pentecost reminder to myself, buy the Disclosure Day tickets, call Vanguard. So, the list will get whittled down pretty quickly.
Anyway, over here it’s Pentecost. Which really snuck up on me this year — the reason the Pentecost 2027 reminder is on my list, actually, is because apparently everyone but me got the memo to wear green to church today. I like matching vestment colors on feast days, but I often (often) forget to. It being Pentecost also means that today was Kneeling Vespers at church. I always dread Kneeling Vespers, which is maybe bad of me, but there we go. It’s long, involves a ton of kneeling, the kids are squirrely, and I just want my coffee. I suppose it’s a fitting way to close out the Paschal season then.
We were late to church this morning because I also missed the memo that it was starting a half hour early due to the aforementioned Kneeling Vespers, and also because Theda threw a huge, screamy tantrum about not wanting to match her sister today. Well, it’s the rhythm of life, I suppose.
Now. Time to cross off item #1 on my Next Three Things list, add another, and go get started on the Garage packing for the day.