During my son’s recent ordeal, I discovered several things about myself that I did not like.
Among other things, I am not the Stoic I thought I was becoming. Under pressure, I lost my cool. More than once. Sigh.
I also discovered that, under pressure, I stop journaling and I stop writing down all that I have to do. (My wife, on the other hand, became a blogger under pressure. Prolifically, she started writing everything down. She is still blogging about my son’s recovery. You can follow her here.)
I almost always have a small Moleskine journal with me. 
Usually, whenever an idea hits, or whenever I remember something I need to take care of, I will write it down in the journal. I write things down for one simple reason. I can be rather forgetful. If I don’t write it down, there is a good chance I will forget it.
During our time in Denver (where my son’s accident and subsequent hospitalization took place), I stopped writing things down.
That was fine for a few days while we traveled to Denver. It wasn’t fine at all to stop writing things down for the two months (almost) we were living there.
There were still things to do. Life doesn’t stop throwing “things to get done” at you. Not even during the hard times. Cars still run out of gas. Bills keep coming. Kids get hungry. Rent is still due. The cat needs a bath.
To keep up with what I had to do, and to keep up with the new demands created by the situation, I switched to a digital to-do list.
There are many online, but several years ago, my friends at Compass Classroom told me about Wunderlist.
If you write things down, you will enjoy Wunderlist. You can set it up on your computer. You can set it up on your smartphone. And, you can link the two.
Sometimes when I am out, I will think of something I’ve got to take care of later when I return to my computer. I will type it into my phone into the Wunderlist app. When I am back on my computer, there the task will be.
You can even set Wunderlist up with other people. Using this feature, other people can add items to your inbox. Then they can use Wunderlist to remind themselves to pester you about the tasks they delegated to you. I do not use this feature. But, you can, if you want. But, you cannot use it with me.
We all know it’s true. If you write things down, you will get more done. The studies have proved it over and over again. We just have so much hitting us these days. To keep up with it all, write it down.
Wunderlist it.
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