The Two Page To Do List

I have a small notebook in my purse and keep a handwritten To Do list in it. However, I type up my work To Do lists.

The typing isn't just because my spelling is terrible, although that is a key consideration. I often use these lists to report on projects and their next steps at meetings or to go over my various tasks with my boss. So, at an update-style meeting with a boss it is nice to just hand over my list and go over everything - obviously it is important that things are spelled correctly.

However, another reason to use the computer to do it is that I have to update it so frequently. (No, this is unfortunately not an environmental thing, I still print it out - though only once or twice a day.) With my little booklet in my purse, I only rewrite the list once a bunch of things have been crossed off. I tend to work in fairly fast paced environments, and while some things sit on the list for a long time, my tasks are constantly moving, changing, etc.

I can remember at Justice when I had to make the change from having the list go straight down the page to having the tasks in two columns. I don't know what I felt it meant at the time: we were understaffed, it was a busier time of year, I was being given more responsibility, my pace of work had slowed, I don't know, I'm sure it meant something. At GeoConnections I never made the jump to the second column, though the list did occasionally reach a second page. It was a scary thing when the two column Justice list made it to two pages though, which it sometimes did.

I just started the typed up To Do List thing at my new job (which I will detail at some point in the future) and this place is really fast paced. I have a lot on my plate and juggling the tasks is going to be a constant challenge. I have completely filled a two column page and I haven't really been here that long at all!! It could easily go to two pages but that would just be too overwhelming. The Director has also said that this is a slow time period too. Being back in the real world is definitely an adjustment!