I must have my to-do list every week

One of the things I do every Sunday afternoon is create my to-do list for the coming week.

It is exactly as it sounds: a list of things I want to accomplish over the next seven days.

I do it every Sunday not only because that's the start of the new week, but also because making my weekly list is always on my Sunday to-do list.

Yes, creating a list is on my list.

And I do whatever the list says, no matter what. How else am I going to enjoy the sublime pleasure of checking a task off the list once it's complete?

This may sound a bit compulsive, and I suppose it is, but checklists are my tool of choice to bring some sort of order to what is otherwise constant chaos swirling around me.

My home and work lives are built largely around Microsoft OneNote, a tool that among many other things creates excellent and easy-to-manage checklists.

When I accomplish a task, I check it off the list. It makes me feel better. It ensures I don't forget things.

Because otherwise, believe me, I would forget things. My mind is whatever you call the opposite of a steel trap.

Things fall into and out of it all the time.

If a thing falls into it and I write it down or type it into my phone, it gets retained. And in the case of stuff to do, it gets done.

I admire people who think to themselves, "You know what? This week I need to wash the floor and renew my car registration," and then they just remember to DO it. It sounds simple, but I cannot do that. I must remind myself of everything.

You will not be at all surprised to hear that, at this moment, there is a small notepad to my immediate left that includes this entry: "Write blog post."

I am about to check off that entry, and I will be smiling as I do it.