Dear LPG

My friends and I are all getting older and when we get together to talk there are a few topics of conversation that keep recurring;  our aches and pains, what our friends are getting up to and what we can no longer do with our time and money.

I find that each morning, I get up with the best of intentions but by the time I return to my bed each night I am forced to think about all the things I was going to do but that I never got round to.  In fact I always end up feeling that I am not getting what I want to do done.   It doesn’t matter to some, but I find it quite frustrating.

I know that we don’t have the deadlines that going to work forced upon us before we retired, and it has to be said that as we get older our concentration spans and memories tend to become a little less reliable.  I know that I, for one, spend a lot more of my time just thinking and I often get caught up with what is on television. 

It is a well-known fact that what works for one person does not necessarily work for another, but I have found a solution that works for me and I would like to share it with my fellow LPG readers... Perhaps making lists is the way forward for some.  But I have developed some rules...

1,   Before you make your first ever list, work out what you can do in a day and never  put more than that number of items on any one list  (no more than ‘5 items’ works for me).
2,   At the beginning of each day read through the list you prepared the evening before and, during the day, you can refer to the list when you forget where you were up to.
3a,   At the end of the day check your list and cross off what you have done with a different coloured pen (I always find that seeing the ‘crossings out’ will give a sense of achievement).
3b, Transfer any unfinished things to do to tomorrow’s new list.
4, Finally and most importantly –throw yesterday’s list away and always look to tomorrow’s list at the end of every day.

If you are really clever you can make your lists using an android mobile or iPhone but paper works just as well.

PB, Forest Hill