Make It Monday: Too Many Ideas in Process

I have a dilemma.

There are too many things on my to-do and want to-do lists to actually accomplish. I try to work on things, but I get overwhelmed very easily these days by the amount of things that I want to do. I end up doing nothing. The overwhelm keeps getting into my way.

I have a crop at the local craft store this upcoming weekend. At the last crop, I spent most of the time brainstorming plans for my business, and I felt like it was good for me and my attitude towards my role in this profession. I will try to do the same thing during this crop - brainstorm in between making things.

What does a crop have to do with the many things that I want to try? Well, having time outside of my home in the company of creatives seems to spark my interest in getting things done inside my home. For some reason, I do better working on these things around other people than I do alone. So, I will be heading to the crop with my idea book and my plan book and the good pen for writing notes. I will also be taking several books and things to make. I might even take some clip art coloring or file folder making materials to ensure that I have plenty to do during the 13 hours of the crop.

One of the things that I know about myself is that I appreciate a visual progress board to track tasks and ideas. I have made stickers to use in my project book to help me track what I have completed and what still needs to be worked on. I want to make a bigger version of these stickers to display in my work area. I have the bulletin board where I can put it so I can see it all the time. I just have to do this.

Put it on the list.

This list is huge and getting bigger all the time. I have musictherapyworks.com lists and new business lists and creative project lists and therapeutic music experience lists and all sorts of things that just keep tumbling out of my brain. My sister teases me about my books and how I write things down, but putting things on paper helps me purge them from my brain. I can organize my thoughts when I write them down. If I do not write them, then I just can't seem to focus. 

It is time to utilize one of my best systems for organizing - color coding.

I use color codes for all sorts of things. I organize my visual aids by treatment domains by specific colors for specific goal areas. I could use the same sort of code for ideas/plans/tasks. I enjoy using rainbow colors for my visuals, so perhaps I could use my highlighters for this color code - something different but in the same type of system. I have highlighters in all sorts of colors, so I can use those more purposefully for this type of system. I even have a clear bag to store those highlighters for easy use. Ooh. This is the type of task that makes me feel accomplished but doesn't actually move me towards my to-do list. 

Problem?? You betcha!

The implementation of a color coding system is something to avoid actually doing any of the projects, but I have faith that it will help in the long run. Just like the visual aid coding system helped once it became routine. First step for this new system is to identify different categories - it could be task based or topic based or completion based or anything, actually. I just have to decide what I want to do. I am leaning towards specific tasks. One color for TME development, one for visual aid design, another for business tasks, yet another for marketing tasks... I am getting overwhelmed again, but once I start, I should be able to make this a habit.

I am constantly looking for the best way to get organized BEFORE I accomplish tasks, and this is an impediment to actually getting things finished. Time to change this process. So, I am going to identify the tasks that I need to do right now to accomplish something today, and then I am going to finish those tasks. Time to get my work planner and get started.

I will let you know what happens.