What’s on your to-do list?

Mine has tasks like; make an appointment, and pick-up the dry-cleaning.

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you’re doing the things on your to-do list?

At first, you’d probably say—because I want my child to be healthy, or I want my husband to have clean shirts.

But if I asked you why you wanted to do those things, my guess is you’d say something like because I want to be a good person, be a good mom or be a good wife.  

Maybe you’d say because I want to be healthy, or be thoughtful or be responsible.  

Is your to-do list helping you becomethose things?  

I feel like sometimes my to-do list makes me the opposite of what I’m trying to be.  

Sometimes I get stressed or selfish trying to get it all done.  

What an irony.  

The to-do list we THINK is helping us bewho we want to be, might be the thing preventing us from it! 

What if in addition to a TO-DO list each week, we made a TO-BE list at the beginning of the day.  

What if that to-be list trumped the to-dolist?  

Here is what I mean. 

Maybe our to-be list says, “Be kind.”

Our to-do list says. “Pick up groceries.” 

But the check-out line is long and someone cuts in front of us.

We might allow the to-be list to trump the to-do list and choose to smile at the person who cut us off instead of trying to check the box of to-do as quickly as we can. 
 

Maybe our to-do list says, “Take daughter to ballet by 4pm.” 

Our to-be list says, “Be a patient mom.” 

When our daughter has a melt down because she can’t find her shoes, our to-be list could win out by calmly helping her look for the shoes instead of barking out irritated orders.
 

At the end of the day, being who we want to be feels so much more fulfilling and efficient than a long list of doing.  

So tomorrow don’t ask “what do I need TO DO today?”  

Ask, “Who do I want to BE today?”