Tackling Giants

I am all about prioritizing. I'm that girl who loves "To Do" lists. I'm a complete sucker for structured notepads (To Buy, To Do, To Call, etc.). My iGoogle has a to do list gadget. My Google Calendar has "tasks" included throughout. My Blackberry has notes and tasks entered left and right, including everything from the website I didn't have time to check out to the recipe I swiped from the magazine in the doctor's office waiting room to what to pick up at the grocery store.

What I HATE, HATE, HATE is when you just can't prioritize.

I remember a day last year when I came into my office, dropped my purse and entourage of miscellaneous baggage in a heap on my desk and let out a frustrated growl fit to scare small children. My partner and officemate at the time looked up from his daily dose of espn.com and chuckled, "Having a good morning, Sunshine?"...a question I'm sure he soon regretted asking.

"I'VE GOT FIFTY MILLION THINGS TO DO TODAY AND I JUST CAN'T DO IT ALL!"

"That's when you've got to prioritize," he smugly replied. Who the hee-haw does he think I am? An idiot? "You need to write it all down and then put it in order and start at number one." Duh, Dingbat!

"THEY'RE ALL NUMBER ONE!" After rambling off a litany of urgent tasks with near immediate due dates, I bit my tongue to prevent dishing out any further coworker abuse.

His reply? "Yep. That sucks for you, doesn't it?"

I think he may have actually seen the smoke beginning to seep out of my ears and the flames stoking in my eyes, because he and his sports web page made a hasty exit stage left.

This week has been another of those weeks. It is as though I blinked my eyes and, upon opening them, was surrounded by a herd of giants towering around me.

"Oh yeah? Well, excuse me, Big Boy, but take a number and get in line...I'll get to you in a minute."

Perhaps what I need is improved strategery. (Aaaah, Georgie-Porgie...that word makes me smile.)

You see, I've never really enjoyed games of strategy. It is a skill I've been able to avoid sharpening in my life. Games like Risk, Axis and Allies, Doom, checkers...I've just never been interested. Even strategy-laden card games like Hearts, Spades, or Rook and strategy puzzle games like Sudoku or...tic-tac-toe...they're just not for me. I'm really more of a Go Fish or War kind of gal...take it one step at a time. Climb one mountain before starting up the next.

Unfortunately, life doesn't seem to play fair sometimes. And I find myself staring into the eyes of a herd of giants, yet again.

Perhaps today is the day to start working on my strategery.

Here's "The Plan": I'm going to bat my eyelashes, smile real pretty-like and spread on a little sweet talk....

"Oh, boys.....maybe one of you big, strong men can help me. I just don't see how little ol'me can ever do all of this by myself! Any suggestions???"

Wish me luck!