A war with the unforgiving To Do

I'm a list maker. I've lessened the habit a bit over the past year, but the title is still pretty fitting. I list make most when I'm bored, like in class, in the car... when movement is restricted but the mind is free to wander. Yes, I'm a girl with a big to do list, chalk full of various items I consider needing to be done. The problem? I'm only a list maker, not a list do-er. Unlike my roommate Elizabeth, who finds motivation and excitement in checking things off an accomplished list, mine tend to fall to the side or remain forgotten as soon as written as the top note of the sticky pad, waiting to be torn off to make room for the next new list.

I have big aspirations, and small. Serious and whimsical. I want to live abroad, read Moby Dick, play the guitar and run a marathon. I want to actually study before the final hours before the exam, and take the time given to me to prepare. The main item on the docket presently is that dang MCAT. It stares at me, taunts me. I know I need to study. I'm even pretty confident that if I DID ever get around to studying, I might even do fairly well. And yet, I don't crack a book. Even after 7 days of absolute Spring Break nothingness, I haven't studied a minute. I know I will be frustrated, aggravated! when the exam rolls around and I don't do as well as I feel I could for lack of preparation. I know this, so to counter it, I do, in fact, plan to study, prepare, review, and dedicate to it the serious effort and attention it demands... I've put it on my to do list.

Now as a result of my persistent list-making and associated chronic inability to carry them out, I constantly feel pressed for time, stressed and hurried when in truth, the hours I spend dwelling on how much I have to do, would be plenty enough time to actually accomplish the tasks at hand. I guess recognizing the fact is the first step to following through with it, right? Right. Now, about that MCAT...