Inspired by this thread, are you someone who always has a zillion things on the to-do list, or are you in control of it? I’m definitely in the former category. Besides my 1,000 books to read, I’ve got maybe two dozen jigsaw puzzles stored up, five or six movies I’ve DVRed from HBO in our free trial, maybe 1500 magazines to index, and myriad other stuff too depressing to think about.
How about you?
Today I had 14 things on my to-do list. So far I have completed 8 of these.
It’s only been the past week or so that I have been using a to-do list. I write my tasks for the next day prior to going to sleep. Normally I am on top of things, but I’d always forget less important tasks.
I think I will stick with this for a while or until I run out of scratch paper. Cuz then I won’t be able to remind myself to buy more scratch paper.
Pretty caught up. I have a bathroom shower to gut and repair. But that’s about it.
Except a couple weeks ago I bought a fixer-upper car. So now it’s tear all the usable bits off the old car and dump the remains in a scrap yard and then proceed to install the good stuff on the beater. Should be looking good by Summertime. Well, looking like hell and needing a repaint, but running great.
I used to have kind of bad problems with depression, bad enough that I underwent REBT.
One of the most invaluable common-sense tips I learned was list making. Put the things you want to get done down on paper and scratch them off as you accomplish them. Make lists for the day, the week, this month, this year and someday. However, make sure the daily list has only as many things as you can realistically get done THAT DAY. It really feeds feelings of failure depression when you had eleventy billion things on your list and only got six done.
So, I guess the short answer is: Depends on which list you’re looking at. My today list has 8 things on it, my within the next year list is dozens of pages long.
Heck, no. I’ve got so many house projects that I’ve started and just not finished. I also have no less than three scarves and a baby blanket that are in various stages of completion. I have the attention span of… well, something that doesn’t have a long attention span.
I use to-do lists also, especially for weekends. I pretty much get all the short term things done.
Another question: do you work on one thing at a time, or do you timeshare?
I moved here in 1981. I still have unopened boxes from the move in the spare bedroom. You decide 
Bragger. Not everyone has enough free time to do the rest of it in a few decades or so. Some of have jobs and stuff.
I’m nowhere near caught up. My to-do list is an exponential function. Fortunately I’m getting most of the important things done.
Never. I will die with something or another undone. I imagine most of us will.
I’ll never catch up. Photos to put in albums, ‘giveaway’ clothes to sort and box up, little finish work/repairs around the house, yard work, etc. Not to mention ‘work’ work, where there are actual billable projects needing attention, also literature needing to be read which is sitting in an ever-growing pile and pro bono projects to work on.
I keep a project list for billable work, and we kept lists when we were remodeling the house, but the rest of it is catch-as-catch-can. Some things just don’t make it. Example: When my kids were about 8 and 5 years old, I bought patterns & material and cut out pieces to make them some robes.
They are now 23 and 20 years old, and that box of pieces is somewhere in the attic. 
I try to keep as many plates spinning at once as I can. I’ve got too many irons in the fire to let one or two things take up all my time.
I’ve been using to-do lists for years. When I first started using them, I had so much to do that I spent most of my time just updating my lists.
I’ve since learned to use them better. Like Fallen Angel, above, I have had issues with depression, and a to-do list can be either a boon or a bane, depending on how they are used. For instance, my daily lists are very short indeed, usually consisting of only the barest minimum that I need to take care of in a day. After I’ve done those, I will go ahead and do other tasks, and put them on the list only after I’ve done them. Every day is a success!
I also keep a monthly task list for projects and things that come up that I need to plan for. I get anywhere from none to half of those done in a month.
Household repairs and the like go on a separate list. After years and years, I’m finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and will probably be done with that list mid-Spring. It helps that I’m only marginally handy, so for some of these tasks the most I have to do is to make a few calls and sign a check.
I’ll never be even close to the end of my to-read pile, however. Which is a good thing!
Whenever someone suggests I do something that doesn’t need to be done right away I say I’ll add it to my list. My list is probably hundreds of thousands of items long by now. Luckily for me I don’t really keep track of it.
Oh hell no. I’m not a catcher-upper, I’m more or a fall-behinder.
That said, thanks for reminding me–I still have dishes and laundry to do!