nearly have the whole thing done.’
‘Not quite.’ I laughed nervously. ‘The thing is . . . I’ve been thinking about it all night and well . . . as much as I appreciate everything you’ve done I’ve sort of come to the conclusion that I don’t really want to do it.’
‘You don’t want to do it?’
‘No. It’s practically Christmas. Everyone I know is looking forward to a bit of time off and then there’s me trying to finish a book that’s already late while trying to help out at home with a brand-new baby. I can’t afford to be spending time doing stuff on the List when I’ve already got a list of stuff to do as long as my arm.’
‘I understand,’ said Simon. ‘Maybe it’s something you could do another time?’
‘Yes, yes, of course. Another time, definitely.’
But even as the words left my lips I knew that ‘another time’ was never going to happen.
With a heavy heart I composed the following email message:
Dear all,
As you may well remember a while back I sent out an email letting you know that I’d made the decision that it was about time that I joined the world of fully functioning adults and that along with my regular day job I would be undertaking a 1,277-item To-Do List which I planned to have completed by my thirty-seventh birthday. Sadly, for reasons too mundane to go into I have decided to give up the challenge. I feel like a complete and utter buffoon and you should feel free to exercise your right to mock me to within an inch of my life.
Have a great Christmas
Mike x
Within a few minutes I received my first reply, from my friend Cath in London.
Mate! Don’t give up. I was really rooting for you! I’ve got a To-Do List as long as my arm and was hoping that you’d inspire me to pull my finger out a bit and get things sorted!
Have a great Christmas
Cath xxx
An email from Jackie quickly followed.
Mikey baby! Say it ain’t so! I was so in love with your To-Do-List idea. I even drew up a list of my own but then I lost it for ages and by the time I picked it up again the moment was gone! You should definitely carry on. If not for your sake then for mine. Otherwise how will I ever get around to finding the time to do any of the things on my list without you as an inspiration?
Finally, from my friend Chris:
Waster! I knew you’d give up! Let’s meet up sometime over Christmas for a drink so that I can mock you in person.
Chris was right. He’d said that I would give up on my list and sure enough I had. Part of me would like to prove him wrong, show that I could complete my To-Do List in the allotted time but I genuinely didn’t think I could. At least not without something else giving way in the meantime. After all, there are only so many hours in the day and all of mine were double-booked already.
Chapter 7: ‘Go to a ridiculously glamorous woman’s house and find inspiration.’
A week into my new list-less life I received an email from my friend Nadine asking me when I was next going to be in London because she hadn’t seen me in ages. I started a reply suggesting a date in January once the Christmas rush was out of the way but halfway through I changed my mind and deleted the lot: Nadine was a really good friend and rather than fobbing her off with some distant date in the future I knew I should make an effort, so I asked her what she was up to the following Tuesday. A reply came back within a few minutes: she had a few bits of work to do but was free for lunch and instead of braving the crowds of Christmas shoppers currently clogging up the West End she suggested that I should come over to her house in Chiswick and she would make lunch for the two of us.
Nadine should have been exactly the kind of person I avoided like the plague: compared to her Derek and Jessica were practically messy teenagers. But Nadine is one of those rare
‘Not quite.’ I laughed nervously. ‘The thing is . . . I’ve been thinking about it all night and well . . . as much as I appreciate everything you’ve done I’ve sort of come to the conclusion that I don’t really want to do it.’
‘You don’t want to do it?’
‘No. It’s practically Christmas. Everyone I know is looking forward to a bit of time off and then there’s me trying to finish a book that’s already late while trying to help out at home with a brand-new baby. I can’t afford to be spending time doing stuff on the List when I’ve already got a list of stuff to do as long as my arm.’
‘I understand,’ said Simon. ‘Maybe it’s something you could do another time?’
‘Yes, yes, of course. Another time, definitely.’
But even as the words left my lips I knew that ‘another time’ was never going to happen.
With a heavy heart I composed the following email message:
Dear all,
As you may well remember a while back I sent out an email letting you know that I’d made the decision that it was about time that I joined the world of fully functioning adults and that along with my regular day job I would be undertaking a 1,277-item To-Do List which I planned to have completed by my thirty-seventh birthday. Sadly, for reasons too mundane to go into I have decided to give up the challenge. I feel like a complete and utter buffoon and you should feel free to exercise your right to mock me to within an inch of my life.
Have a great Christmas
Mike x
Within a few minutes I received my first reply, from my friend Cath in London.
Mate! Don’t give up. I was really rooting for you! I’ve got a To-Do List as long as my arm and was hoping that you’d inspire me to pull my finger out a bit and get things sorted!
Have a great Christmas
Cath xxx
An email from Jackie quickly followed.
Mikey baby! Say it ain’t so! I was so in love with your To-Do-List idea. I even drew up a list of my own but then I lost it for ages and by the time I picked it up again the moment was gone! You should definitely carry on. If not for your sake then for mine. Otherwise how will I ever get around to finding the time to do any of the things on my list without you as an inspiration?
Finally, from my friend Chris:
Waster! I knew you’d give up! Let’s meet up sometime over Christmas for a drink so that I can mock you in person.
Chris was right. He’d said that I would give up on my list and sure enough I had. Part of me would like to prove him wrong, show that I could complete my To-Do List in the allotted time but I genuinely didn’t think I could. At least not without something else giving way in the meantime. After all, there are only so many hours in the day and all of mine were double-booked already.
Chapter 7: ‘Go to a ridiculously glamorous woman’s house and find inspiration.’
A week into my new list-less life I received an email from my friend Nadine asking me when I was next going to be in London because she hadn’t seen me in ages. I started a reply suggesting a date in January once the Christmas rush was out of the way but halfway through I changed my mind and deleted the lot: Nadine was a really good friend and rather than fobbing her off with some distant date in the future I knew I should make an effort, so I asked her what she was up to the following Tuesday. A reply came back within a few minutes: she had a few bits of work to do but was free for lunch and instead of braving the crowds of Christmas shoppers currently clogging up the West End she suggested that I should come over to her house in Chiswick and she would make lunch for the two of us.
Nadine should have been exactly the kind of person I avoided like the plague: compared to her Derek and Jessica were practically messy teenagers. But Nadine is one of those rare
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