I am a huge fan of lists, especially to-do lists, and always have been. I plan my work day, home life, weekends and my spare time. When I moved overseas my to-do list was a book of lists and it was the same upon returning home. I have lists in my bag, on my desk, on my phone, my computer – everywhere! I have even been known to create a retrospective list if I feel like I haven’t achieved much in a day, and then cross out the tasks completed, so that I can gain that same sense of satisfaction.
I recently decided to eliminate the word should from my life completely, and today I also made a decision to do only the things that I really felt like doing and those that brought me joy, as an opportunity to practice eliminating the should word. This also meant that I wouldn’t develop a to-do list for the day as there was nothing I had to do or get done. So I had a whole day ahead of me with no plans! Hmmm what to do? What to do if there was nothing I should do or had to do? The first thing I did was to go back to bed and watch a movie – unheard of! After it was finished I read magazines, surfed the net, pottered around and generally amused myself with whatever I felt like doing, whenever I felt like doing it – how wonderful.
It felt a little strange at first, I even had my home to-do list notebook with me out of habit I realised later, but managed not to open it once. The should word occasionally crept into my thoughts, but I managed to eliminate it as quickly as it arose. After a lovely day of being rather than doing, I am feeling free, relaxed and refreshed. I am going to continue eliminating should from my vocabulary and thoughts, and who knows I might develop a new habit of being list free – well sometimes anyway!