Are "TO DO" Lists Outdated? (And Why Do I ROLL OVER Half of My "TO DO's"?)

As most of my readers know, Monday is my musing day.

My brain seems to refuse to go into neutral over weekends when I am SUPPOSED to be giving it a rest from Mortgage Madness.

Or could it be that looking out over misty lake with moon rising and glass of wine (at weekend home) opens the mind to thoughts that were LOST in the Madness (at crazy fast paced downtown office)?

Do you have things on your TO DO list that just never get done? Are TO DO lists outdated  anyway?

After all, I haven't taken a time management course since the eighties.  Back then, they taught you to make your TO DO list, then assign priorities...just to make sure the important things get done.

The central idea was to "roll over" those things that don't get done. But what the heck? I have permanent ROLL OVERS. Each day they appear on the list. And each day they roll over to the next day.

Confession: I even have a whole TO DO LIST just for ActiveRain. And just like MOST things that never seem to get done, the common denominator is FEAR.

1. Fear it is too confusing. (conquering Localism & outside blog).
   
2. Fear it won't be fun (re-doing Profile)
   
3. Fear it isn't as "URGENT" as everything else  (learning widgets, video, and everything else Brad comes up with 3 times a week)

(Sigh)

Maybe I need 2 more lists: The DIA List (That stands for DO IT ANYWAY) And the DOA List (That stands for DEAD ON ARRIVAL).

DIA = Will require Bold Moves  DOA list = admit it and quit it.

Last week when I appeared on KRON TV, I was reminded of how very delicious it feels when you conquer a fear, and do SOMETHING that falls into the category of BOLD MOVES.  Something you have always WANTED to do, but just never seemed to be BOLD ENOUGH to accomplish.

Maybe conquering a fear is like an INVESTMENT in yourself: You make a sacrifice in the beginning, for a BIG PAYOFF in the end,

I have decided that once a day, I will mark something off my DIA List.

The reason is pure and simple: I want the BIG PAYOFF.

Stamping out those BLASTED ROLLOVERS feels way more incredible than just putting out fires, or marking off those DO OR DIE items.

Just when I was feeling this was an amazing revelation and a brand new resolution, I had a hazy recollection that something about Bold Moves was on my New Year's Resolution List  . 

So like any good blogger, I scrolled back to my New Year's blog just to make sure.

And there it was. Funny how that works.

Written by Janet Guilbault, Mortgage Lending Expert Based Out of the San Francisco Bay Area