Staying on task is a chore for me. I’m easily distracted, don’t care about certain endeavors, procrastinate, underestimate the time needed for tasks, and often get swayed by the needs of others. And so on.
While I do get things done, some things just keep getting pushed out of the way.
One less beneficial quirk: when I’m not doing the things I need to be doing, I sometimes don’t do anything at all. It’s like the weight of what I’m avoiding presses pause on everything. It’s incredibly maddening.
I’m not really interested in discovering if there’s a label for this. In the past, I’ve overcome odd habits and idiosyncrasies just by sitting with myself, making a plan, revising it until it works, and repeating it until it sticks.
Now, I Have Time
I have a lot of extra time on my hands now. And I am not interested in letting all the days go by without cashing in on this gift—or worse, looking back and being upset with myself for wasting it.
So I’ve come up with a simple, colorful system.
My weapon: Post-it notes.
The Post-it Plan
Daily Tasks
Each night (or morning), write your to-dos for the day on small Post-it notes (all the same color) Choose a different color for a different day, obviously you;ll recycle colors after 3 or 4 days depending on how many colors you have.
When you complete a task, toss the Post-it in a jar.
Side Quests
If you do something not on your list, jot it down on a large Post-it labeled “Side Quests.”
Use the same color each day for this one.
At the end of the day, that Side Quest note goes in the jar too.
Future Tasks
Keep another large Post-it (a third color) for tasks that come to mind for the upcoming days.
At the end of the day or next morning, pull in anything relevant from this list into your small to-dos.
Visual Flow
Over time, your tasks might be a rainbow of small Post-its if you carry forward items from previous days. Do not let a task stay there for more than 3 or 4 days. Remember DO IT NOW is best.
But you’ll always have three types in play:
Small to-do tasks (daily)
One large Side Quest note
One large Future Task note
It’s not sophisticated, but it’s color-coded, always in front of my face—and it eems to be working for me. 😂🥰🙏
