My overwhelming obsession with Sharpies also extends to an obsession with using them. Using them to make lists. Only minimal amounts of work would get done if I don't make a list each day. But the list can't be just any list on any kind of paper with any kind of pen. It must be a neat, clean sheet of paper the same as yesterday's and written with the Sharpie color of the day. Some days may have the same Sharpie color as the day prior, this depends on my mood. The text is also of the utmost importance. I had tried using the PocketMod for a while, but NOPE it was too bulky, the lines were too thick and that made my writing feel too cluttered. The list must be perfectly spaced with a perfectly aligned left edge, if it isn't I start over. If a line runs too long, that's it, new list.

I have to make lists everyday because I could so easily find a million other things to do besides work. Things like petting the dogs, sitting in the sun or taking photographs could, and very often do, distract me from sitting down and actually working. This is where the neat, orderly insanity makes all the difference. I am just better at being distracted and that's why the overly systematic list works in my favor. My head fills up with all the things I should be doing and then opts out of all of them. But, if I make a perfectly aligned, tidy list it speaks to me in only ways I can hear. "HEY! YOU! Sit down! Make money! Then...buy shoes!"

When I hear that I sit down and work.