Why I shall be keeping my To Do lists, thank you very much

January 2018. Time for the ‘New Year, New Me’ rubbish that goes really well for about three weeks until most people get bored of their diet or brand-new exercise regime or not drinking and revert to type. Basically.

There’s Dry January (never tried this, I don’t drink enough during the week for a glass of wine to make the slightest difference to my Christmas-expanded waistline). There’s Veganuary (apparently this actually a thing now. Hilariously my cousin said to her mother ‘I’m going vegan for January. Her response was ‘Where’s that?’)

There are the gym goers who go from no gym to gym every day. The ‘I-am-being-really-healthy-ers’ who do really well for ages then realise that cutting out carbs and sugar all at once is actually a terrible idea because you aren’t introducing your body to it slowly, you are just cutting it out. So, you stick to these resolutions and when you fail you beat yourself up and think you’re a failure. And then next January you do it all again.

I am totally guilty of doing all these things. I think my track record for healthy eating was three weeks. Gym was actually five and not biting my nails (something I do when stressed up to my eyeballs) lasted a week. 

Then, I just stopped. I stopped making all these fad resolutions and made little plans instead. Last year I made list of the books I wanted to read (real books, with proper pages) and resolved to do something active for charity. I read all the books on my list and walked a marathon in September for Cancer Research UK. 

The only ritual I stick to is to buy a new diary. You know, one of those old-fashioned things that people actually write in. I am very particular. Last year I found the most perfect diary. Tan leather with a refillable insert. I spent a ridiculous amount of money on that diary and used it until August. Then I forgot about it. This year I bought the insert for ￡7 and intend on using it again. I will probably forget to write in it come September but hey, that’s still progress. When I was younger the ritual was to buy a journal as I had ideas of writing out all my feelings when I was having one of my teenage meltdowns and the world was ending. I found one of those journals when I was clearing out my room last night and was crying with laughter for a good hour. I now understand why I was called a Drama Queen. Jeez.

So back to resolutions. I was browsing through LinkedIn yesterday and came across a great many articles by people. Some I really liked, some I was smug happy about (like Richard Branson’s article on writing everything down, I do that, cue smug feeling). Others, well… I just didn’t like them. In particular, the ones about scrapping your To Do lists. Many a message was that you should scrap your To Do list and only write down your priorities because everything else will stick in your head.

I mean…WHAT??

My To Do list is my life. Okay, I am very particular in some ways and have a To Do list in a lovely grey moleskin book that is colour coded. Every week I spend a little time on a Monday morning writing out the things I need to do. It is all the menial things I forget and the big things I remember. But writing them down (see Richard Branson has it nailed here) massively helps me remember the things I need to do that might be small compared to everything else but then when you forget to do them it has consequences. And the satisfaction of crossing it off my list is wonderful. So I write out my little list on Monday morning, know what I need to do and add to it during the week.

To some people I get it, it seems like a waste of time. But writing things down without relying on my brain to remember everything is wonderful. When I don’t have my trusty To Do book I feel like a lost puppy. Life is busy. I run the marketing for my company, run my own art business in my spare time and also manage a few websites on a freelance basis. Without my To Do list I would lose my marbles. No really, my friends call me Marbles for this very reason.

So I shall be keeping my trustworthy, tried and tested To Do lists, thank you very much.

My advice to you? Stick to what you know and what works for you. I know January of every year is this big chance to be a brand new you, who is better than last year’s version and the version before that. But the truth is, you are still you regardless. Make plans for yourself, not resolutions… and if you’re anything like me, keep your To Do lists!