I’m a list person. I keep lists for everything – home, work, shopping. You name it. I love crossing things off!

Lists are absolutely essential to achieving your new year’s goals. For those, I keep three lists.

First, I write down all of my new year’s goals and keep them where I will see them regularly. Right now, I have them taped to the back of my bedroom closet door. Every day as I get dressed for work, I see them again. I can keep track of what I’ve accomplished.

Second, I make a list each quarter. The starting point for each quarterly list is the new year’s goals. I ask myself what steps I can take this quarter to achieve my annual goals. For example, if I want to read 12 books from my shelf, I need to read three a quarter. To those tasks, I add any tasks specific to that quarter. For example, I will add articles I need to write so that I will make the deadline. I assign doing my taxes to the first quarter and doing my Christmas cards to the fourth quarter. As new tasks come up, I add them to the quarterly list.

Third, I use the quarterly list as the basis for my weekly list. Some things I do each week (e.g., this blog, my meal plan, my Friday tidy). Other things depend on what’s on my schedule. If I’m traveling, I have to pack. I may have writing to finish. I may have calls to make or errands to run. If something isn’t finished this week, it carries over to next week’s list.

Having a list keeps me on track and reminds me of what I need to do.