Eternal Sunshine of the To-Do List

Every morning I ask Siri to tell me the temperature, I always need to deduct a few degrees knowing that my office (AKA “The Dungeon”) will be much colder than the rest of the house.?

Next, I look at my calendar––I don’t do it the day before so every day is a surprise (or maybe I just want to sleep that night… :) )––and then I go to my to-do list, that interminable list with sublists, multicolor flags, and due dates. You have to love your list! For some strange reason, it is quite satisfying to see everything down on the list, but not nearly as satisfying as crossing each item out. However, it is nevertheless satisfying enough that my mind is at ease for (a little) while knowing that I’m not forgetting anything––or anyone (probably lying to myself).

The fascinating fact here is that the notifications of a “due item” keep coming, but the list rarely gets shorter. In fact, some items get pushed (with some guilt) and some have to get canceled altogether (with more guilt––after all don’t forget, I’m a Jewish mother so I know how guilt works).

“The urgent never gives time for the important.” I don’t know who came up with that, but it is so true. Hence, who decided what’s urgent and what’s important? So, what do I do? I continuously renegotiate time with others and with myself.?

And you know what??

Everything is about perspective. Sometimes you just need to remove the rose-colored lenses you are seeing life through, while other times you need to take some distance. Occasionally, you just need to take a closer look.?

But most importantly, you need to choose which findings are the ones to count.

All my life I was taught that information (or knowledge) was power. First, in college, I was told my Rolodex (remember those?! Now you can call it your contact app) was my biggest asset. Later, when I started working either on networks, production companies, or agencies, there were many closed-door meetings and they were only sharing information as needed.?

The message was clear: information was power.?

On this, we will agree to disagree––to me, information is power only if you know what to do with it.

See ya, Lara