When I was a little, I made many dresses for my only doll out of pieces of torn pillowcase. They weren’t like amazing outfits for my doll, but they gave me so much joy. But I had never thought of venturing beyond the toy-clothing domain until my undergrad years. One of my classmates was this girl who always dressed with style. We were very different, but we were in a group of four and the other two sort of put us together. One day, this girl showed me a pair of shorts that she made from altering old jeans. I don’t remember how they looked exactly, but they must have been really good because they blew my mind to the point that I decided I would try myself. I have all those experiences with the doll’s dresses, haven’t I?
It only took me about 10 years to actually do it. If this is not an example of procrastinating, nothing other else is. The one thing that has made a difference is this to-do list that I am using.
This is not the first time I’ve tried a to-do list app. My boyfriend lives by lists. He has a list for everything from Xmas presents for the next five years to travelling ideas for the rest of our lives. In a shorter term, he has reminders for listed tasks that vary from the next five minutes to the next ten hours. Then there are the shopping list, the movies-to-watch list, the list of healthy and unhealthy recipes… Well, I think you get the idea.
And my boyfriend is very enthusiastic when it comes to things he believes in. So he would sit you down, hold your hand, look into your eyes and tell you about lists. As stubborn as I am, I have surrendered in various occasions and ended up trying a few list apps now and then. But I really stick to this one (called Wunderlist by the way). Now I’ve formed a habit of putting most tasks into the list, setting a schedule, arranging for reminders and push notifications.
I am still a massive procrastinator because some tasks are still pushed back a few days or a week. But once I put a task there and see it on the day that I would like it to be done, it feels more concrete. Gradually, the urge of ticking off all tasks for the day forces the habit. There have been more and more days like today when I’ve finished them all, including shortening my jeans. And who knows, maybe summer is not quite over yet.
nightcactus 