Here is an incomplete collection of my go-to to-do lists.

My relationship to my to-do list changed completely when I realized there were different styles of to-do lists I could use.

Different types of lists for different types of projects, or purposes, or days.

Sometimes the point of my to-do list is focus, sometimes it’s productivity, sometimes it is merely to have a record of the day.

Here is an incomplete collecting of the types of to-do lists I use and how I think about them:

As always, use what works, leave what doesn’t.

Classic to-do list:

This is what I assume people mean when they say a “to-do list.”

Purpose: task tracking and management.

Format: a list of things that need to be done. There may or may not be some sort of organization or prioritization. Maybe all the tasks that involve the same project or person or area get highlighted in one color. Maybe some tasks get sub-tasks or sub-sub-tasks. Maybe highest priority tasks go at the top or get stars or something else. But then again, maybe not.

Length / Time Frame: unspecified. I’ve had classic to-do lists that last an hour. I’ve had classic to-do lists that kept running for months, with tasks flowing in and out.

Running done list:

This is less task management, and more energy and momentum management.

Purpose: momentum.

Format: a list of tasks that you build as you’ve completed them. You start with a blank page. Write down one or two (preferably tiny) things, then you do them, check them off, and write down the next one or two tiny things to be done.

For example: write down “Email Erin.” Then go email Erin. Come back. Mark the task as done. Repeat.

This builds a cadence of keeping commitments to yourself and getting things done. Which generates momentum and keeps the day moving forward.

Length / Time Frame: short. The aim is to build momentum and give yourself credit for what you’re completing. (Though it could be fun, maybe in an overwhelming kind of way, to keep this going for days on end.)

The Most Important:

A micro list of the 1 to 3 most important things.

Purpose: focus.

Format: write down the most important things, keep it short, and as long as those 1, 2, or 3 things get done, you’re good to go.

Length / Time Frame: short list, unspecified time frame. Though I’ve found, with a longer the time frame this becomes more like a list of goals or objectives and less like a to-do list.

I find “the most important things for today” or “the most important things for this week” or “the most important things for this project” the most impactful time frames for me.

But I know some people like doing these for the month, or the quarter, or the year. You do you.

The Most Important (+ some other stuff):

A micro list of the 1 to 3 most important things + some other stuff.

Purpose: focus when you don’t have the luxury of hyper focus.

Format: this is like The Most Important with a Classic To-Do List tacked on at the end. The key here is keeping the focus on the 1, 2, or 3 most important things to do.

Being able to hyper focus on the ultra essential is a luxury that not everyone has access to. This style of to-do list gives the ultra essential items their due focus while also having space for the other stuff.

Length / Time Frame: short list, unspecified time frame. But again, I find the shorter the time frame the easier this is to wrap my head around.

The Punch List:

A punch list can have a very specific project-management meaning. But I think of them as: a to-do list for the very end of a project when there are a million tiny tasks to be completed and you just need to work your way through them.

Purpose: a long list of all the final touches and tasks. I use these kind of like a parking lot of to-dos for a project I’m actively working on. The real goal is to get things out of my head and into something resembling order.

Format: a list of tasks, sometimes with some sort of grouping or organizing, but usually just a startlingly long list. As much as I try to have a complete picture of what still needs to be done when I create this list, inevitably new tasks pop up and get added to it.

Length / Time Frame: the final push to get a project done. If I start a punch list before the final stretch of a project I find it overwhelming or something more akin to project planning.

The Parking Lot By Any Other Name Still Gets Ignored:

A list of projects, tasks, or ideas that live in one place but you are not actively working on.

Purpose: keep ideas and projects contained and safe somewhere I can find them again but out of my brain.

Format: I’m still working on figuring out a method for using a parking lot that fits into my life and projects. Ideally this is one spot for everything that is a good idea but not a priority right now, and I’d review it regularly.

In reality, these ideas end up in the nearest notebook, post-it, journal, planner, or scrap of paper. Until I rediscover them.

Length / Time Frame: TBD.

Do you have a to-do list you’d add to the list?

A musing on not fighting the morning.

I was texting with a friend about fighting to wake up in the mornings. She said “kind of incredible what I can get done when I don’t fight getting out of bed…”. I agree, and yes getting going is easier when I’m not fighting myself.

The sink in my bathroom sits in front of a window that overlooks a magnolia tree.

It is a delightful view to have while brushing your teeth. All February and March I have been fascinated by this tree’s readiness to create buds in the warm days between snow falls and freezing temperatures.

Again and again, little fuzzy capsules appeared on the ends of the branches.

Finally, in mid April, they began to open. In ones and twos soft pink petals broke out of their fuzzy capsules and began unfurling.

This morning, some of these flowers looked like sea anemones, sprawling petals splayed in every direction. (Not to be confused with the flower by the same name, which I learned about trying to spell anemone correctly.)

Others looked like the bell of a tuba if the edges curved inwards. They illustrated perfectly where the inspiration for a petal shaped / bell shaped / balloon shaped skirt came from. (I write more about clothing and style in it’s many forms here.)

I had spent much of the morning lounging and reading. Not fighting waking up and getting going, but rather reveling in not needing to. In other words, the perfect weekend morning.

By the time I got up and got going, those magnolia bells had opened and transformed into sea anemones too.

I guess even flowers take their time to wake up.

Photo by Elisa Amadori on Unsplash

If we can’t always get every project to a state of wholeness, what is the end?

When is a creative work finished? And is that different than done? And are those distinct from complete?

This question was sparked by that art is merely abandoned quote, often attributed to da Vinci.

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” – Leonardo da Vinci (maybe)

Creative projects: finished vs done vs complete

When it comes to “done” or “finished”, I think those states are declared.

But I do think you can sense when a creative project is “complete.”

When there is nothing left to add, and nothing left to remove, the work has a wholeness about it.

And I don’t know how to describe the feeling any more accurately at the moment than: it’s kind of like when a lemon curd sets, or when an ice cube melts.

It’s not quite ready, not quite ready, not quite ready, not quite ready. And then it’s lemon curd.

It’s still ice, still ice, still ice, still ice. And then it’s not.

If every project had unlimited time and space it would be one thing. We may always be able to reach that point of wholeness.

But creating in the real world is messier.

Sometimes it’s a timeline or a deadline or impatience. Opening night doesn’t budge. The paper goes to print when it goes to print. Manuscripts are due when they are due.

Sometimes it’s a lack of skill. We don’t always have the technical skill set to complete the work we envision.

Sometimes, it’s something else.

In those moments we get as close as we can with the resources at hand. Even if the limiting resource is us.

We can’t always get every project to that state of wholeness. Sometimes we declare it close enough (or close enough for now) and move on to the next project.

Maybe we’ll decide to come back to this project in the future. Maybe we’ll come back to the concept. Or maybe it’ll be a stepping stone to something else.

I started this essay by asking myself to try and articulate my opinion on the distinction between “finished”, “done”, and “complete”.

I think I found my distinction between finished/done and complete. (One day I may decide to tease out the difference between finished and done).

But I don’t know that finished or done or complete is even a requirement unless you’re on a contract. Incomplete, unfinished, and close-enough-but-not-quite-done works can have value.

However, I do know that if you want someone to see a piece of work you need to let them see it, complete or not.

Photo by Kim Daniels on Unsplash