User blog:Cetheridge/A June to remember

I have tried hard to remove the word "busy" from my vocabulary. Everyone is busy. Everyone has "a thousand" things to do every day. The feeling that you are getting crushed under the weight of your own responsibility to life, the universe and everything is a feeling shared by so many people that it seems like saying "I'm busy" doesn't mean anything. It's like when someone asks "how are you?" and you say "I'm fine."

But the words I use don't take away from the fact that I'm constantly trying to do more than is possible in a day. I make lists and hope to get half of the things on the list done. I have a list for different situations. I start a list for a set period and then start a new one when that one gets tiresome. Occasionally, it gets pretty deep and I realize I have to take a step back.

I call this "taking a month of Chris" (Chris is my first name, try to keep up, please). In the Month of Chris, I do everything I can to remove items from my to-do list (fix the broken window, replace light bulbs, edge the sidewalks). I focus on those pesky tasks that have been hanging around. And I am pretty serious about not adding anything new to my list. During the Month of Chris, my list only gets shorter and I try not to let anything fester. I have tried third four or five times over the course of the last five years. It worked well... msot of the time.

In May of this year, I felt the little voice in the back of my head say "you have this, and this, and this, and this, and this" to get done. It was that creeping feeling of "I'm busy" and clearly time for a Month of Chris in June to refocus.

I had to-do lists everywhere (two or three on my iPad, a couple handwritten lists, one on the whiteboard in my office, my HabitRPG list). I even had taken a picture of the whiteboard with a to-do list on it that I had to erase because I ran out of room. My lists were getting out of control.

So the fist step in June was to organize my lists. But this time I tried a different approach.

Instead of making a giant list and working through it, I put things that needed to be done right now in HabitRPG. Things that needed to be done by the end of the month went on the whiteboard and things that could wait went on the giant scary list. And then I got to work.

It took me about two weeks to realize that my strategy was paying off in a huge way. In a usual "Month of Chris" I can hit about half of the items on my giant list. This give me enough of a buffer and peace of mind to keep my focus for a while.

But here's where it's going to turn into a bit of an infomercial: I tried to tackle something on the HabitRPG list every day. Then I replaced it with something on my June list. After a couple of weeks I realized that I had a real shot at hitting everything on my June list. I wasn't going for 50 percent. I was shooting for 100 percent. My list was actually getting shorter rather than simply looking like it was getting shorter and I was being rewarded emotionally and mentally.

I felt my head getting clearer. My focus was stronger. My drive built on itself. The payoff was not in a promotion or a raise or a new house or a new car, but in a healthier me.

There were a confluence of events that allowed this to happen but the biggest one was HabitRPG. I joined in the spring, so the program had never been a part of my Month of Chris strategy. The way the site is organized really fits my needs. Plus, my party was great. We were questing regularly, which helped me shoot for older and bigger items on the list. They were incredibly encouraging (not like a normal RPG "gamer" party... those really turn me off to gaming with any regularity).

I think the program was that little extra bit of motivation; It gave me just a little push and my productivity "tipped." I try to tell friends and family about this experience, but they don't seem to get how rewarding this has been. Instead I thought I would write it here.

It was really cool to have this great feeling of accomplishment -- to feel like I was getting "ahead" rather than just trying to keep up. I am interested to hear if anyone else has felt this or something similar. What say you fellow travelers? Anyone know what I'm talking about?