How We Get Stuff Done

We're going to be completely honest here.  When I was pulling the looking back links for my January 2022 monthly recap, I was pretty impressed with us for all the projects we had gotten done in the past.  Some of that was just due to the timing of the posts.  Writing about an organizing project seems much more appropriate in January than in December.  I always appreciate having things organized but I am not going to find time between all the Christmas prep to tackle a big organizing project in December.  I am DEFINITELY interested in that content in January.

So many of those January posts were projects that were actually completed earlier but I just didn't post about them until January (like the basement pantry, my craft shelves, and the front room shelves).  I remember very clearly when all those projects were in the beginning stages and when in most cases, they were pain points in the flow of our house.  All my best organizing projects come from recognizing and doing something about pain points (and that pain points is most often "we need a specific spot for this category of items" such as extra bath towels or food).  

All the above mentioned projects happened before we doubled our kids, as in, got Sam almost 4 years ago.  That year before we got him we were SUPER productive: redoing our front room floors, repainting our bedroom including the trim (SO MANY HOURS on that trim), redoing our linen closet, my craft shelves, the front room shelves, I ran my half marathon, and Matt started on the swing set.  We have yet to replicate that kind of productivity. 

And, YET, when I look around our house, especially when we recently showed the boys pictures of our house as we first saw it 16 years ago, we've still gotten things done.  We are always working on SOME project, often many projects.  Many things can drive me a bit bonkers in a day but my motivation to get things done is almost always there, even when the to-dos can be part of what drives me crazy.  

It helps that I am highly motivated by crossing things off a good to-do list, in fact I keep MANY of them going at any given time.  And that motivation is the driving force behind everything we complete.  I live and die by my lists (and a good Excel spreadsheet).  Everything can be broken down into smaller steps that I then check through.  Small steps make big progress. So here's the short list of how we do it:

We make a list.

We break that up into smaller items on a list.

We spread out those tasks.

We get stuff done.

I wish I could say we have a master list somewhere of all the projects we want to get done.  We have had various versions of these over the years but not a current one right now.  I have a list on my phone with 3 to-dos on it, with the done items going back to 2013-ish.  I keep the list mainly because it's good to see all that we HAVE accomplished.  At least once a year we sit down to make a big to-do list of current projects, usually in the spring when all of a sudden a bunch of outside tasks need done too.  Then the list gets put away and months later I find it and am amazed that all of our past stresses are now done and we forgot about the pain points.  Or we've decided we don't really want to do them anyways.  Or we just admit defeat on organizing the garage.  (What is the timeline on getting rid of items that haven't been used?  Like, if say, someone had a particular tool in the garage that they hadn't used in 12 years despite having all the working parts and safety gear...that seems like something you could get rid of, right?)

Our main master to-do list right now is mostly my 22 in 2022 list.  I start accumulating items for that at least a month before I write the post and then add to it as stuff comes to mind.  I also have a running list of "100 dreams" on my phone that isn't yet 100 items and occasionally I will reference that when making my 22 in 2022 type lists but that's more bucket list travel type items (or owning a blue car type items, one I finally accomplished in 2020!)  and less home project items (although I believe the long simmering "put in a sandbox for the boys" is on there).  

When I lock in my 22 in 2022 list, I have a general quarter-ish idea of when I hope to accomplish all the items.  A few of them stretch across the whole year (like our dates, eating local, and food holidays).  Some are more specific like tie-dying that seems more summer friendly than winter.  

I've written about my monthly to-do lists before, although I've been keeping them in my bullet journal for awhile now.  On the 1st of each month I make a project list for that month.  I pull from my 22 in 2022 list, recurring items I hope to do every month, the number of miles I plan to run, my monthly movie watching schedule (something I should blog about), upcoming holidays/birthdays, and looking back at my past year's list for that month.  Once I write things on that list I want them crossed off.  That doesn't always happen but I always aim for 100%.  

It's not always big steps on my 22 in 2022 projects but often just baby steps to keep things moving along.  One of my 22 in 2022 projects is to redo the wall over the buffet so this month I want to buy one piece of art for it.  I've also been toying with the layout even though I don't have all the pieces but to give me an idea of what sizes/orientations I am shopping for.

Regular check-ins are KEY and I update my monthly bullet journal list (including my monthly reading plan and book tracker) every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  That is very frequently seeing what I still hope to get done in a month.  

The final to-do lists these items end up on is in my planner.  I am completely devoted to being a planner person now and I literally don't know how I would function without one.  There would be a lot of things slipping through the cracks!  At the beginning of a month I'll fill in my recurring tasks (including daily reading to the boys and Luke's nightly homework).  Then on Fridays I'll plan the following week, filling in my chores (I've rearranged the chores and assigned a few to Luke but the process is almost identical to this!), and adding items from my monthly projects lists as the days allow.  Sometimes, like mornings I work, I don't expect to get much done outside of normal tasks.  On afternoons my Mom comes to do homework with Luke I know I'll have a bit of time I can maybe photograph a project (with a Sam shadow) or maybe clean out a drawer or something.  So I slot in the monthly project to-dos around everything else, always knowing I want to completely check off my monthly and daily to-dos!  (And some months I get lucky/motivated and get more done than I had hoped to on my list.  But that's far from always.)

So items go from:

• My brain
• 22 in 2022 list
• Monthly project lists
• Weekly planner 

And then, somehow, they mostly get done!  I have yet to achieve that elusive 100% on an annual list but we are always creeping a bit closer!  And somehow, things continue to get done.  It's a lot of little steps, a lot of planning ahead, and just a heck of a lot of drive to check off my to-do lists.  Checking items off my to-do lists keeps me majorly in check!  Sometimes I get to check them off all 3 of my lists at once and it is EXTREMELY satisfying!