To-Do Lists Are For the Birds

February 5, 2023

Read time: 5 minutes

“You can never be 100% organized.”  - Unknown

***

In a world where self-help and infinite content creation are the norms, we are all still lost.  It’s tough being us.  There are so many options for self-help:

-        Box-breathing

-        Meditation

-        Yoga

-        Exercise

-        Tony Robbins speeches

There is an infinity of ways to help ourselves. 

I always feel disorganized.  But I figure organization is always right around the corner.  Fiddling around with organization is one of the many joys of my life.  Whether it’s laundry or work, organization seems to be normal.  Change seems to be normal as well.  And I try to remind myself, changing organizational strategies is also normal.

***

I used to work in mortgages.  Believe it or not, I had a day where I felt a lot of stress.  Actually, the stressful feeling did not start as a feeling at all.  It started with a phone call.  I received a call from a client.  The phone call went like this:

“Hello, this is Matthew.”

“WHERE WERE YOU?”

“I’m sorry…hello, this is Matthew Kopel…”

Then, a sudden realization of who this piercing voice was hit me like a ton of bricks.  I had missed a meeting.  It was an important meeting to this person. 

“Listen…I know you’re a good kid and all,” they said, “but how are you about to do this to me…I needed some backing...do you understand?  They were expecting the lender to be there.”

And the lender wasn’t there.  Because I wasn’t there.  This one stung.  I really liked the guy I was talking to.  He had a good heart.  But he made very little money in the mortgage world.  Because of his net worth, I could only offer him so much of my time and attention.  To me, this guy was a nobody.

As my client continued talking-talking-talking about all of his problems: his wife, his mortgage, his second mortgage, and his children, I looked at my To-Do List.  I couldn’t find my client’s name on it.  I flipped the page.  Yesterday’s To-Do List did not have his name on it.  Nor was his name on the To-Do List the day before.

I flipped my note pad fifteen times until I found his name and today’s date.  I wrote in all capital letters, “REAL ESTATE MEETING” along with his name and today’s date. 

I realized…it wasn’t myself who failed.  It was my To-Do List.  My organizational methodology was broken.  My life strategies needed to be re-charged and re-vamped.  I was at the bottom of the pit and it was time to climb out.

***

I’ve sworn off To-Do Lists.  In that moment, when I failed my client, I realized I needed to find a new strategy for managing my life.  I was lost in a world of Tony Robbins speeches and David Goggins Instagram clips. 

“What should I do?” I asked myself. 

Then, one night, I went to sleep and found myself in a cold and hot sweat.  I had a dream where my emotions were all over the place.  I cannot remember the details of the dream too well.  But it was one of those dreams where I was being chased forever.  Fear and anxiety crushed me.  My girlfriend could tell I was upset.  In my sleep, I kicked her in the shin.  She knew we needed to talk.  I told her what was on my mind.  She understood and all was right.

The next day, I found myself shopping in a Walmart with my Air pods clanging Tony Robbins’ voice.  All of the sudden, a yellow shade of light stuck out to me.  Underneath the yellow shade of light read a sign:

“2 FOR $2”

I thought to myself, “Hot dog, what a deal!”  I took the deal, swiped my card, and took off.

The 2 for $2 deal was for Post-It Notes…Post-It Notes have been my savior in wolf’s clothing.  It turns out, To-Do Lists had been wearing sheep’s clothing this whole time.

***

I don’t have any statistical evidence or any grand words to give on the pros and cons of To-Do Lists and Post-It Notes.  I’ve just found I like the Post-It Notes better than the To-Do Lists. 

I do have a couple of thought nuggets, however.  The Post-It Notes…why have they succeeded me?  You see, they didn’t always succeed me.  I learned early on that I could turn the Post-It Note into a tiny yellow-squared To-Do List just as easily.  And I’d forget things on the yellow-squared To-Do List just as easily as my friend’s REAL ESTATE MEETING.

I’ve learned, one Post-It Note per one thought.  I’ve learned one Post-It Note per one thing I have to do.  It’s not necessarily economical for the wallet.  I do run through Post-It Notes more quickly.  But it is quite economical to my mind. 

Then, there is the cathartic feeling of doing that thing I have to do.  Doing that thing that is on the Post-It Note…it’s an a-okay feeling.

Let’s say, I have a lunch meeting at noon.  I make a Post-It Note for the lunch meeting at noon. 

I go to the lunch meeting, come back to my desk, see the Post-It Note, and I crumple that thing into a little ball and I slam it into the trash can under my desk like Shaquille O’Neal. 

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  Now this feeling…it’s such a good feeling every time. 

It's off my brain.  The task is done.  The Post-It Note is gone forever.  I never have to worry about that lunch again.  Except, for that one thing they said at lunch.  And that thing they said at lunch…I made a Post-It Note for that.

You see, with To-Do Lists, I’d just cross stuff off and it’d still be on my mind.  Without transforming into Shaquille O’Neal and throwing that thought away forever, I never felt nearly as accomplished.  I found I need to transform into Shaq as much as I need to write things down to remember them.

***

After I saved my business with my client, he asked me if I wanted to go out and talk to girls and eat and get drinks.  I told him, “No.”

He told me, “That’s part of the reason I like you Matthew…”

Then he went on and on making all these assumptions about my life.  He said, “That’s why you’re the man!  You have your stuff together!”  It’s okay, maybe one day I’ll tell him about how much I don’t have my stuff together.  So far, he likes me for being a clean and sharp fella.  And on this day, our conversation was about Post-It Note revelations and mortgages. 

“Mortgages are how we butter our bread,” I told him.  He liked that very much.

Time for a Joke:

There is only one thing I cannot deal with...

A deck of cards that are glued together.