A friendly tip for fellow Type-A List-Makers:

Save one to-do list. (I know this goes against the very great pleasure you take in admiring your fully crossed-off list or transferring undone items to a new list, and, finally, throwing the beastly list away at the end of the day . . . do it anyway.)

Then look back at it in a month. All the details done and undone.

Remember how keyed up you were about that pile of laundry or that mail-in rebate or the gift for your husband’s step-brother’s step-daughter or making that appointment?

Thirty days, five laundry cycles, and a dozen appointments removed, all those scribbled-off to-dos from January don’t seem so important, do they?