I’ve been asked many times – Sarah – How do you do so much!? How do you stay on top of it all?! I think to get these answers – We have to start at the beginning!
Before easy access lists and calendars within our phones existed, my daddy always used a ‘Brownline‘ for home projects, and a ‘Redline‘ when he was at work. When I was 8 or 9, my dad bought a two pack of the Brownlines from Costco and he let me have the other one, and showed me how to use it! Ecstatic, I used it to plan out my school days by the hour (I was homeschooled), and anytime I knew something important was happening, I’d update my little book.
Microsoft became a staple in our household in my early teens, and as dad started using the calendar functions within this program, he taught me how to do the same. This was eventually replaced with Google Calendar, but the real game changer for me was when I researched out the best To-Do Program in 2013 – I found WUNDERLIST
Truly a marvel ahead of it’s time, this wonderful program would then be a part of my life till 2020, being taken off the web by Microsoft, who had appropriated Wunderlist in a deal the previous owner came to regret. As anything Microsoft touches these days tends to be swallowed up and destroyed in their business model, so was Wunderlist, which they made their own program of called ‘Microsoft To-Do’ ….Original eh…
This program was the only one that allowed the transfer of all my data from Wunderlist, otherwise my tens of thousands of items of information would have been lost, but I lost all my completion and creation dates, which allowed me to track my projects. It sadly still lacks many more features that were readily available in Wunderlist, and they have yet to put any effort in to making this program be even slightly comparable. However, if you want a free program that gets the job done by allowing you to create list folders, lists and sub-lists, that allows you to upload items as attachments, this is the program for you.
‘Back that up Sarah, did you say tens of thousands of items!?’ That’s correct, over the course of 7 years, anytime I needed to do something that wasn’t an immediate thing like for example – Wash Car – I’d put it in my ‘Inbox’ (now called ‘Tasks’) and when I’d get the chance, I’d give it a date and sort it into categories.
For Example, with ‘Car Wash’ I’d put that into my ‘Out & About’ Category, in the List ‘Transport’. If I wanted it to happen on Sunday, I’d set that, as well as if I wanted it to reoccur every month, week, day etc, and/or if I want to put a reminder for a particular date. I can also assign it to anyone I’m sharing the list with.
I then look over dates via the ‘Planned’ Tab, and if I want to focus on something specific, I flag it as ‘My Day‘ or ‘Important‘ which allows it to pop up in the respective Tab.
The Planned Tab allows me to keep tabs on how many items I have going on in a day, and I move things around as needed to ensure they are completed.
This allows me to keep track of chores of varying dates, remember to do oil changes, learn Spanish, post these blog posts, water my plants and cause I’m terrible at remembering – Floss my teeth… If I’m making a cosplay, it starts in here, where I then break down every part required, then break down all the materials needed, and then drag and drop photos to be easily referenced. I then can complete each item as I make it. (I know there are programs dedicated to this, but I find having all my things in one place is easier on my brain)
On top of this list, I also have a preset schedule of how I keep my ADHD brain from going crazy from doing the same thing over and over. (You can make your own variation, but I highly suggest you at least have a rough framework of what you’re doing in a week, put it on a stickie and put it somewhere you can see it on the daily!)
Sunday – Computer work, Chores & Updating my Twitch
Monday – Tea stuff, Chores and Projects
Tuesday – Computer work/filing
Wednesday – Projects
Thursday – Computer work & Retro posts
Friday – Projects & fun
Saturday – Catchup day from the week
You’ve read all the way down to this point, so I’ll throw you a Pro-Tip!
No matter how busy you are, always make time for yourself and if you have one, your partner/spouse etc. And ALWAYS book yourself a catchup day – Life is inevitably chaotic, and just when you think you have it all planned out, Fate likes to throw an invisible wrench! (I’m still learning this myself, but when I do make it happen, life is that much easier!)
– #Stayawesome – SarahTonin
Things & Stuff 