This week I’ve been  getting my quarterly financial documents together for my tax accountant. Until last year, I used an accountant who let me just hand her a box full of papers.  Now I use someone who’s really on the ball and makes me give her my work in organized fashion.  I created a checklist from her email that told me what she needed me to compile for her.  I know if it’s something I only do every 3 months, I could use a To Do List that I can check off to make sure I remember it all.  Even so, this month I seemed to have a hard time deciphering the list, so I put it off until I felt like giving it my full attention.  That time came yesterday.

Once I gave it my full attention, it became clear why my hesitation.  I put on the list to “print out all Paypal transactions July 1 thru September 30, 2009.”  Yet I didn’t write down where in Paypal to go to get that info.  I didn’t write down how to get to the online screen that gave me the choice of what kind of report I wanted to generate.   I knew I figured it out the last several times, yet I neglected to update the checklist to remind me .  The checklist was what made it easy for me to do the work.  Without the checklist, I got pretty scattered and wasted several days just half heartedly looking at the list and thinking about getting ready to get documents together.

One item said “print spreadsheet of the monthly bills” and, for the life of me I couldn’t recall what that was.  Granted I always have several lines of thought going at once when I am working, but although a spreadsheet sounded familiar, I couldn’t recall right away just what it was and if I’d done one before.  I figured, if I did it before, I probably blogged about it, so I went to my blog and in the “search” box I typed in the word “Excel”.  I saw the post for Facebook Friends To The Rescue, Helping Me Excel and as I read it, it all came back to me.  So I amended my checklist to include the name of the Excel file, and the file location.

Once I had the amended checklist in front of me, it became apparent exactly what steps to take to compile the records for the quarter.  I already had the files together in one place.  It’s easy enough to do 3 months’ of filing at a time.  All I had to do now was begin going down the list, opening each file in turn and there would be a note at the top of each page telling me what to do step by step.  All I had to do was remember to print the – now newly revised- checklist in order to get started.

So, I dilly dallied for 3 days, kind of glancing at the checklist, moving on to something else, still not getting the records compiled.  Three days.  With three days, I could have taken a long weekend to a fun spot and had an adventure.  But, instead, I wasted those three days because I didn’t have a useful enough checklist.  I didn’t have a good game plan.  My game plan failed to motivate me to action.  It made me rely on my memory to fill in the blanks for what I needed to do, rather than telling me what file to open and print out, which website to type into the browser to get me started.  With so many other thoughts of ongoing projects whirling around in my head, I didn’t want to add to the mix trying to remember something.

When I finally made myself stop and review the checklist to see what the problem was, it was clear to me that I needed to include the action steps to take.  What file to open to get started.  What website URL to type into the browser.  What word or phrase or tab to look for online to find the proper report for my Paypal history.  The small details that make it possible for me to do my job quickly and efficiently.

So even though I “wasted” 3 days that I should have been getting the documents together, I got to spend the weekend painting furniture. That let me relax enough to vibrate in a place of clarity, to allow me to amend the checklist to be more detailed, which will ultimately save me time in the future.

Yes, having a game plan gives me lots of time for spontaneous adventures.

Now if I can just remember to print the checklist.

.
LISTEN TO FREE SAMPLES: Out of Body Experience
and Connecting with your Angels, Guides

,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ :¦:- Visit ww.horizonsmagazine.com