micro listing — Bonnie Landry

When things get busy for me, I start making micro-lists.

household to do list

out of the house to do list
to buy list
groceries
things to worry about in the new year when I have more time
reminders to myself that I don't need to facilitate the universal social calendar
basic needs: eat, pray, brush teeth

I'm not incompetent, and I am not stressed about it, I just am not really a details person, so I will forget. I'll have this vague sense that something needs doing, but I know what it is so I'll wander around the house starting one task and another and think I'm not actually that busy, so I might as well invite a couple of families over for dinner.

Sticky notes are the perfect micro-list tool. You can even get sticky notes on your computer as an app or a download or upload or program or something like that. They aren't actually sticky of course, that would be silly. They even come in traditional sticky note profoundly not pretty yellow, but I prefer a hard copy. Stuck to my counter.

Some people are "list people" because they are detail oriented. I am a "list person" so that I can remember that there are details. Don't you just love sticky notes? I set the timer on the stove to remember to take the laundry out of the dryer before it is all wrinkled. And then I put a sticky note (do not try this at home, they are flammable) on the stove to tell me why I had the timer set.

List people invented sticky notes, I am sure of it. Little sticky notes in the math book...remember to practice long multiplication tomorrow. On the counter, take my cell phone with me when I leave in the morning. On the kitchen table, (insert child's name) tidy your area, do your music, stack some wood. On my vanity, get dressed.

Yes, that is how I live when it gets busy. If I write it down, I relax because I don't have to remember it. There it is, on a cute little finite list that I can check off. Or throw away. What joy. What productivity. I believe that I am personally responsible for the financial success of the sticky note company.

I buy them in ever colour.