photo credit: Torrey Pines Sunset via photopin (license)

If I want to maintain my peace of mind and sanity at the end of each day, I’ve realized my lengthy To-Do Lists have got to go!

I have even recently joked that my To-Do Lists have To-Do Lists, but it’s actually no laughing matter.

Why I set such impossibly high standards for myself is probably a topic for another day. As a creative, who probably tends to the perfectionistic side, you probably can relate.

Anyway. I’m going to turn over a new leaf and kick my big honkin’ To-Do List (as a way to measure my effectiveness / productivity / worth) to the curb. I had to add that parenthetical, because let’s face it. I have to make a list of things that need to be done, or I’ll forget.

BUT instead of looking at the check marks on my list as an aforementioned measuring apparatus, I’m going to do something else.

I’m going to make a “Have Done” list.

My Have Done list is going to have two parts:

The first part is going to be the actual activity that I did.

The second part is going to be why it was important.

I’ve even signed up for this free service app thing called IDoneThis. It’s set to email me every day at 6pm to ask me about my progress. You can even write your own question for it to ask you. Mine is, “What awesome things did you accomplish today? (Nothing is too small to be noticed!)”

And in the spirit of Have Done-ness, I’ve even asked my husband not to ask me what’s on my list for the day, but rather ask me at the end of the day how it went. OK he does that, too, so I guess I’ve just asked him not to ask me about my plans.

I really think this is going to work for me! Yay!

PS. In case you’re wondering about my Camp NaNoWriMo aspirations, I’ve decided I’m just not prepared enough to go for it this time around. But it did have me thinking about some story ideas to flesh out, which is a step forward.

So what do you think about the Have Done list? Do you think it’ll work for you? Let me know below.