Lists

When I have a million and one things to do, and not nearly enough time to do them in, my number one approach to the problem is to make a list. This allows me to be constructive and organized, while at the same time avoiding doing any actual work. When I’ve killed as much time as I possibly can making a list, I generally eke out a few more minutes of constructive non-work by organizing my list into subcategories: in essence I make lists of lists. This is called prioritizing. Every list item then gets two dates: the time I should do it, and the time I must do it. Once this framework for efficient procrastination is established, I’m free to go about my regularly scheduled activities until I miss the first deadline. Then, of course, I have to rewrite my lists.

And now, I present to you an abbreviated list of Things on My Desk:
1 Picture frame cube with half the picture slots empty
2 Nail clippers
4 Used up Barnes and Noble cards
1 Stuffed Dinosaur-Mouse creature
2 Boxes of push pins, 1 regular, 1 glow in the dark
1 Roll of duct tape
1 text book from previous semester
Box of assorted pens, markers, pencils (mechanical), etc.
3 broken watches
1 of those little call bells that go ‘ding! ding! ding!’ when you hit them
1 unmailed letter
Pile of thank you notes, unsent
Stack of papers requiring attention
1 long lost novel (Dragon Champion), under stack of papers
2 lanyard key-chains with jump drive
1 broken pyrite that I don’t know what to do with
1 half-buried laptop computer and accessories
2 Sticky notes with unattended to-do lists, dating back at least 2 months (on laptop screen)