Having a ‘to do’ list saves my life practically every day. I find that if I don’t have one I end up starting the day with a vague idea of what it is I want to do and need to do, but in reality end up doing fuck all.
Doing fuck all today then…
I know because I was guilty of doing fuck all shortly after I graduated from University. I have no shame in admitting that I did fuck all for over a year between 2001 and 2003. I was a miserable, self-hating, self-loathing (I think they’re the same, but I’m a writer and like to shove in a few extra verbs when an editor isn’t looking) fuck up. I had no idea what I was supposed to do with the piece of paper that said I had a degree, and unlike a lot of my friends who from my perspective seemed to instantly make plans, get jobs and generally find their direction or purpose in life, I floundered about.
I miserably watched TV.
I mournfully played computer games.
I read Harry Potter several times over.
I half heartedly applied for shitty jobs that I could have gotten if I had left school aged 12.
I half heartedly applied for amazing jobs that I was woefully under-qualified for.
I couldn’t listen when my friend Dave asked me ‘Johnny what are you doing?’ at a friend’s birthday party in December 2001.
It was only when I looked back on this period of my life years later that I realised that I was avoiding life. I wasn’t engaging with people – not even my friends – because I was embarrassed about my situation. I was ashamed.
At University they taught us a lot about academic theory and a thirst for knowledge. What they didn’t do was teach us about the practicalities of the real world and how to survive and flourish within it. We were left to work that one out for ourselves. Some people got it right away and were able to just launch themselves into the world, focused and ready. Some people stumbled a bit but quickly recovered. Others just drifted away into the void never to be heard of again.
Obviously I came to my senses, but it took nearly 2 years for that to happen, a further 3 for me to find what I really wanted to do, and a further 5 to actually start doing it. By the time I had actually started writing full time I had friends who were married, successful in their careers, buying a house, starting families etc…you know all that shit that you’re supposed to do when you grow up. I was in danger of letting my perceptions of other peoples’ successes send me spiralling back off into a 2001-2003 black hole of despair.
Then I found my notepad.
And I started by writing down all the things I had done over the past decade. A summary of a few highlights follows:
- Travelled, worked and lived in Canada and the US
- Briefly worked for a porn production company in Toronto (that’s another story and I only worked there for 2 weeks before I was asked to help out on set one day and…yeah like I said that’s another story)
- Got a job working as a manager for Odeon cinemas working my way up to business manager by the time I was 28.
- Ended up in a hotel room with a leggy, blonde model following a film premiere party in Kensington when I was 23.
- Forced to do the walk of shame back to the hotel a week later because they had found my bag that I had left behind.
- Won several marketing and business awards.
- Got served with divorce papers when I was 26. To my recollection I have never been married so I think this was quite an achievement.
- Realised I wanted to write whilst reading Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman at the same time when I was 25.
- Maintained, made & kept some incredible friends
- Told a woman I loved her for the first (and to date, only) time when I was 28.
- Called time on her and a lot of other unhealthy things in my life when I was 31.
- Following recognition (for the third time in two years) as a short story writer I began pursuit of my ambition when I turned 31 with a mixture of ruthlessness, wild enthusiasm and abject ignorance.
When I looked at that list, it made me smile and realise that even though I might be a few years behind a lot of my peers, it didn’t matter as much as it did when I was 23.
And that’s when I started writing ‘to do’ lists.
Number 7 was supposed to read “Thank brother for late birthday present”
These lists help me work every single day. In fact it’s safe to say that these lists help me get through every single day. Like many people I have my own demons whispering nasty, cruel distortions of the truth in my ears all the time all designed to make me feel useless, small and worthless. ‘To do’ lists help me keep those demons at bay. They also make me feel satisfied that I have achieved something for the day when I tick off the separate points.
I hear and read a lot about the latest apps and tech that can help you organise your life and your daily task lists and some of them are very clever and very useful. Yet there is one app that I keep coming back to that has never failed me and it is the pen and notepad.
I would recommend ‘the pen and notepad’ to anyone who is struggling with aspects of their life as it literally can be the difference between moving forward and stagnating in a pool of self-loathing.
The day I don’t write a ‘To-Do’ list is the day I do fuck all. And as I said at the start of this post, (with the obvious exception of taking a holiday) doing fuck all is a very bad thing indeed…
POST SCRIPT: I promised a month ago that I would post my own writing ‘to do’ list for 2014. When I’ve finished adding stuff to it I will. I keep my promises wherever possible.
JOHN’S WEEKLY FREEBIE
Whether it’s a link to a site I think you’ll find useful, some tips that I think will help in work or writing (if that’s your thing), or a copy of a story or taster of a book I’ve written this is where you’ll find them.
THIS WEEK: ORGANISATION
There are some great programs online that are worth a look. If you’re struggling to organise your day, or are simply having a bad one try checking one of the links below. They might help, they might not. But if you don’t like using a notepad then they could be useful.
Simple, easy to use and effective. Encourages you to write 3 pages a day of whatever you want. Useful in organising your mind before the real work begins and as it offers badges and awards for writing on consecutive days, it gives you a sense of achievement. I use this most days before starting work.
For novelists. Recommended to me by a colleague, I haven’t used it but she says it is very useful and best of all free.
Professionals everywhere swear by Evernote. Claims that it saved marriages and prevented wars are yet to be substantiated.
