Any Given Monday

Mondays always burden me. A wise Italian grandmother once said, "Get everything done on a Monday." Achieving productivity on even the smallest scale will make Mondays seem terrific. What a way to start the week: getting stuff done. Mailing that letter, paying that bill, taking out the trash, getting the shopping done - small human feats that grow heavier if they remain on the To-Do List past Thursday.

I started thinking about this Monday on yesterday's Sunday. I have grown tired of feeling hopeful about the productivity I imagine will occur at the beginning of every week, especially when I make a plan to get something done and miraculously allow myself to put it off until Thursday. Or, sometimes indefinitely.

I realized that the problem with my To-Do Lists inevitably have to do with the accountability factor involved in making the list. As author, I am usually the only one privvy to its contents, and the sole authority monitoring completion of any given task. Furthermore, the list serves my own purposes, and so when something gets done, I'm the only one who can truly revel in the satisfaction of making a swift slash across the page.

Now, I'm not saying I need glorious banners of praise unfurling whenever I take out the trash, but there is something else to be gained with this insight: when something doesn't get done on my private To-Do List, I'm the only one who has to deal with the shame/guilt/disappointment/burden/(insert weighty feeling here) of knowing that, at the end of the day, I didn't follow through on my goal.

What I've discovered this Monday is the existence of my Life To-Do List. Unbeknownst to me (or perhaps I simply refuse to acknowledge that it looms indefinitely), there are a few items on my Life To-Do List I've been anxious to cross off permanently. I've managed to cross off a few items on previous productive Mondays: the Monday I mailed my grad school application, the Monday after I ran a marathon and managed to oversee a cross-country videoconference for a bunch of surgeons, the Monday I arrived in a foreign country and found a job, hotel, and pub with four hours, the Monday I cleaned the house without being asked.... Small feats that take on enourmous significance once completed.

That being said, there has been a consistent, persistent item on my Life To-Do List that I have figured out how to conquer...or at least take a stab at getting it crossed off for good. I'm making it PUBLIC. This way, the shame of unproductivity or, worse, persistent off-putting, will be a burden I can no longer tuck away as I crawl into bed in the wee hours of a Tuesday morning.

Here's the bare bones:
The item I'll have crossed off by my 28th birthday is "Get In Shape".
That means an acceptable BMI by September 14, 2010.

Henceforth, the Public To-Do List starts today.



...Tuesday.

The irony is not lost on me, but at least the shame will force me to improve by next week. Feel free to check back next Monday. My sense of pride is at stake now.