I’ve recently adopted a new creative practice that came to me organically. It’s an offshoot of a to-do list, and I believe it supports my ability to write consistently despite an impossible schedule (at least lately).
I’m sharing it here in hopes that you, too, will find it useful. But I also share it selfishly, so that I don’t forget.
When I wake up, often around o’dark thirty in the morning (as my mother would say), I walk my dogs, heat tea, and engage in some kind of light exercise, then I make a list. But not a to-do list. Instead, it is a list of possibilities. Once I make said list, I plug my nose and dive into the sea of tasks that await me.
There are many reasons to make lists. According to this article in Psychology Today, lists “organize and contain a sense of inner chaos,” and “separate the minutia from what matters.”
I personally find them helpful for keeping me on track, yes, but I also find it delightful at times to ignore them completely.
Making a list of what we need to do for the day is one thing. Listing possibilities, on the other hand, is another. I’ve started listing the possibilities of the day with less prescription than a standard to-do list (check email, walk the dog, finish edits). Now my lists look more like this:
By the end of the day, I will:
feel accomplished and happy
reconcile open conversations and questions
feel good about the way I connected with my students
get a little clearer on the direction of my novel
You get the idea. I don’t necessarily outline numbers of words or metrics per se, but I focus on how I want to feel. This is the antithesis of a SMART (specific, measurable, accountable, realistic and time-bound) goal. Somehow it changes the weight and the meaning of what I’m doing. Everything feels a bit less transactional and a little more honest.
Prompt: Write a list of the various things you want to feel at the end of the day, creatively and practically, rather than the metrics you want to hit. See if it changes anything in the way you approach your work.
If you try it out, let me know how it goes.
Wishing you well.
xo
Jen
PS - For those of you who enjoy my meditations, I recently released my first course in partnership with AURA and Insight Timer. Check it out here: From Worry to Love.
What a wonderful idea Jen!
Thank you so much for sharing it.
Wonderfully said. I also have two lists, but one is just for the day, “essential” (eg pick up dog meds, complete physical therapy questionnaire) and the other, which has no name but I think of as “intentional” is for the week, to give me direction and flexibility to fit into unpredictable daily events, eg, research a new source for flash fiction prompts, reread one old, unfinished story, etc.