Making a "Done" List
I have been utilizing a “to-do” list ever since my jr. high days. I find them incredibly helpful at giving me a visual reminder of what I hope to accomplish in a day, and they are extremely valuable in helping me set tangible goals. However, I have come to learn that they are not the right tool for every circumstance.
When I first started homeschooling my children, I invested in a beautiful daily planner and spent time before school started thinking through exactly how we would spend each day and week of our school year. That’s right, 180 days of ideal lesson plans sure to help me reach all the goals I had for each of my children’s education. It was a colossal failure. No matter how detailed or thoughtful my plans were, they didn’t line up with the spontaneous nature of teaching kids where each day is directly affected by how much sleep they got, what the weather is like, unplanned field trips or opportunities to travel, their interest in the days’ topics, how long it actually takes them to grasp a concept, and that their individual learning needs are way different than they look on paper. By the end of the year, I would look back at my crossed off notes of what we didn’t do each day and feel like a complete failure.
However, what I really needed was a perspective change. No, we weren’t accomplishing all of my well intentioned plans, but were they still learning? That was a huge yes! Learning happened all of the time in ways, usually always better, than what I had planned. We went at a pace that made sense for each child and made the most of whatever a day brought. Really, we had completed so much that I needed to approach my “to-do” list with a different strategy.
This is what led me to creating a “done” list for homeschool. After each day, I filled out my planner with what we actually got accomplished that day. At the end of a school year, instead of a bunch of crossed out plans, I had a book filled with what we actually did, and it was something to be proud of! The evidence of learning that took place was very clear, and some of the best days we had were because of surprise opportunities that we were able to take advantage of because we weren’t chained to only accomplishing what was on our list.
Take a moment and think about the goals you have in your life, some of those goals might be better suited to the routine of a “to-do” list, which will help offer reminders when they are needed. But other goals you will find are better recognized in a “done” list, where you might start with knowing what you’d like to accomplish but the way you get there is based on your circumstances for each day. Through that freedom, you may come to realize you are able to tackle even more than you originally dreamed possible.
Challenges/Points:
A “to-do” list is great for daily reminders and tasks, but a “done” list can be a helpful way to show your unplanned accomplishments and allows for freedom and spontaneous changes.
Goals related to overall educational, parenting, marriage, or relationship needs might be better realized in creating a “done” list, so they can be individually based versus idealized.
If you find yourself constantly feeling like you failed in meeting your daily goals, try listing what you were able to accomplish in a day and let it change your perspective on how your goals may be met in different ways.
Questions:
Have you ever tried listing your daily accomplishments instead of only going by an idealized list of what you hope to get done?
Think of five things you have accomplished in the past week, whether related to your job, a relationship, task oriented, or anything else. Were they part of a plan of what you hoped to get done, or did any come as a result of unexpected circumstances?
Can you think of any areas in your life where creating a “done” list would help you recognize your accomplishments and motivate you to keep growing in new ways?
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