I use a computerized program to help me keep track of my To Do Lists. It’s called Todoist and I like it a lot as I can share a task list with my husband for things like the housework, develop a logical step-by-step progression for a large project like preparing for an art exhibition, or a long term goal like visiting France.  I can check it and update it any time from my phone, my iPad or my computer. So, there are no excuses for not getting things done, right?

Well, I apparently tend to take on too many things and often cannot finish my daily list. Thankfully, it lets me re-schedule everything and juggle stuff around and I am gaining some insights into how and why sometimes I never make progress on projects.

In all honestly, sometimes I have to blame my computer habits (I guess it borders on a computer/electronic devise addiction) as I spend a lot of time on them. A recent trip involving an overnight hotel stay with good internet made me realize that fast internet makes a world of difference and I can actually plow through two days worth of email in less than an hour if it takes fractions of seconds instead of  minutes for very email to load. At home, where my internet is extremely limited and slow, it takes hours (sometimes up to three) to get through a day’s email. So I have started unsubscribing to a lot of news alerts, book review sites, opinion sites, political sites, etc. If it’s not art  or family related, I’m slowly weeding it out.

I’m also beginning to prioritize things differently. Calling my Mom every week has moved from a 2nd or 3rd level priority to number 1. Vacuuming my house weekly has moved down to level 3 or 4. Sketching daily has moved up to a level 2 from a non-prioritized activity, but painting five days a week remains a level 1 activity.

I’m still not actually accomplishing the painting goal however, and trying to figure out why. In the meantime, the sketching has increased and I’m happy about that. To prove it, here are a couple of recent sketches.