After the printing press, I consider the Post-It to be one of the greater inventions in the last millennia (by the way - it took me so many tries to spell that word, I gave up and looked it up on Wikipedia). Anyone who has been in my office knows there are post-it notes all over my desk, computer monitor, bulletin board, everywhere. They are my ever extending to-do list. My office mate thought they had quite over-run my monitor so he put up a post-it reminder to "Clean up post-its"... it remains on the monitor as I have not completed the task.
I have come to realize, however, that as good as to-do lists are (I would lose my mind and forget everything if I didn't write things down), Satan can really use them against me. It doesn't matter how late I crawl in bed at night, I will still have not completed all the tasks I think I should have. There will still be emails to write, bills to pay, dishes to clean, laundry to do, phone calls to make, etc. For a while this has been a burden on me, I have felt like I'm not being a good steward of my time or otherwise failing at my tasks. But I'm now recognizing that these are some of Satan's lies - "you're not good enough" "you still have things to do" "you are a failure of a leader".
So recently I have been working to accept the knowledge that I will always have a to-do list, but I must not not permit it to consume me. I am no longer allowing myself to send email, pay bills, check my bank account, or do anything related to work or ministry roles in my bedroom. This may seem a bit goofy, but it creates an important boundary. When I go upstairs at night, I am no longer allowed to work on things on my to-do list. I am only allowed to spend time with God, relax, read books for pleasure, and sleep. This makes my room a sanctuary and my quiet times have been infinitely more fruitful since I have instituted this policy.
I'm sure there are more of us task-oriented people out there... what do you do to prevent your to-do list from becoming a monster?
1 comment:
Yea, I went through a stage in college where post-it notes consumed my room and desk. At one time I think i counted like 40. Not i have sticky notes on my desktop on my computer. Saves paper but still just as messy but I can make them hid in a click of a button. Yay technology. Yea, I have been learning the boundaries issue as well. I refuse to take work home, I will just stay late to work or go in early. Once I leave work, i am done.
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