Long-time readers of this blog will recall that I organize my day by two Moleskine notebooks. One is squared (graph paper) and contains both a daily checklist of things that I have to accomplish throughout the day and the record of my vitals that I have to monitor for my doctor. The other is ruled (lined) and contains a running to-do list for things that are one time or occasional tasks that otherwise won’t fit in the checklist. The items that I track in the checklist have been fairly fluid in the two years plus that I’ve been utilizing this system, but haven’t changed since early May. As a result, I’ve become complacent in the use of my checklist. I’m still checking things off – more on that in a minute – but over the past few months it’s become a habit to check things off days at a time or at the most at the end of the day.

Recently I’ve been trying to remind myself to both be mindful of the checklist and to utilize the ruled notebook for things so that I have a running record of the things that I’ve accomplished with each passing day. Today was the first day in months that I’ve used my ruled notebook and I need to get back in the habit of doing that on a daily basis.

As far as checking things off, there are habitually five things that I’ve been just downright ignoring for months now, and I’m writing today to try and recommit myself to completing all of my checklist, not just the parts that are convenient or the ones that I’m going to break a streak if I don’t get them done. Yesterday I only missed one thing. Today I’m shooting to check them all off. It’s just a matter of re-establishing the habit. Now’s a good time to recommit to that because I’m about to hit my downcycle for the year, and I think sticking to the checklists will be a good thing to help me overcome the downcycle this year. More on that tomorrow. For now I have other things to do on my checklist and the day’s getting later and later.