This week we have a tarot life-hack to help prioritize and get organized. It comes in two versions. Part 1 is a quick exercise that requires no card interpretation. Part 2 is a full tarot spread.
 | I love making lists so much, you guys. Some days I spend more time organizing and list-slinging than I spend getting shit done. I run into trouble, though, whenever I’m between deadlines with a pileup of projects or ideas clamoring at equal volume for my attention. This might just be my quirk, but a to-do list is useless to me if I can’t get it in the right order. I can waste hours hemming and hawing, trying to figure out what to tackle first and next, only to land on Netflix, with sore eyes, a mushy brain, and nothing accomplished. |
Doing creative work means juggling more ideas than you can execute at one time, and that means constantly picking and choosing between projects you love the same and all want to do now. I don’t care to waste making and doing time agonizing over ranking favorites among my art babies, so I came up with this trick to order a to-do list when I can’t tell what my priorities should be. It’s a bit like eeny-meeny-miney-mo, but with style
Part 1: Quick Trick
1. Grab a stack of sticky notes or a scrap piece of paper and jot down everything currently clamoring for your attention.
I’m feeling nostalgic today, so our examples will cover the Animaniacs’ priorities.
2. For lists of up to ten items: is there a theme to your list-to-be? Choose the tarot or playing card suit (you can use a regular deck of playing cards) that best matches your current focus. For lists with over ten items, use the Major Arcana and skip ahead to step four.
2. For lists of up to ten items: is there a theme to your list-to-be? Choose the tarot or playing card suit (you can use a regular deck of playing cards) that best matches your current focus. For lists with over ten items, use the Major Arcana and skip ahead to step four.
My examples in this post center on creative projects, because they fill most of my dance card, but you can absolutely use this exercise for other areas of focus like home, business, social calendar, etc.
3. Pull out the pips of your chosen suit, numbers one through however many items you have to prioritize.
4. If you know something needs to come first or last, do yourself and your cards a favor and assign those items numbers up front. There’s a degree of chance in play with an exercise like this. It’s only meant for times when deadlines and logic can’t help you sort out your stuff. If you have ten projects going, but only one has a deadline and it’s up next week, slap that project’s sticky note on your ace and set it aside. If you have seven things on your list, and you know one doesn’t need to happen anytime this year, throw it on your seven and set it aside.
5. Turn all your unassigned cards upright, then face-down. Shuffle them well, and fan them out, still facing down. Place one sticky note on each card.
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6. Turn your cards over and put them in numerical order. Write down your prioritized list.
7. Follow your list. Go do the stuff!
Timelines
You can use this trick to get yourself organized over different timelines. For instance, I pulled two rounds of cards on the same list of creative projects in the works. First I drew up a working order for a span of 2-3 weeks, then I drew up a production order for what to finish and release throughout the year. I got really helpful results, and a pretty productive week out of it. Together, the two lists highlighted some areas where I had resistance and procrastination that I’d overlooked.
It makes sense to run two different timelines on the same list of projects, because something that could take years to complete might require research or planning now; a new idea you’re really into this week might benefit from more stewing time before you dig into it; and another idea might be so ripe that it’s best to bang it out now, but wait to publish until you’ve had time to cool down and do a last round of detached edits months later. That said, resist the temptation to re-draw the same list over and over until you get an order that you like. If you know what order you want to use, you don’t need this exercise, just go with what you know. Pulling card after card on the same question is procrastination.
It makes sense to run two different timelines on the same list of projects, because something that could take years to complete might require research or planning now; a new idea you’re really into this week might benefit from more stewing time before you dig into it; and another idea might be so ripe that it’s best to bang it out now, but wait to publish until you’ve had time to cool down and do a last round of detached edits months later. That said, resist the temptation to re-draw the same list over and over until you get an order that you like. If you know what order you want to use, you don’t need this exercise, just go with what you know. Pulling card after card on the same question is procrastination.
Part 2: Tarot Spread
The exercise I’ve outlined above doesn’t require any interpretation, and doesn’t give you any particular insight on your list. You use the cards for their numbers rather than their meanings. You can turn this exercise into a more meaningful tarot spread by using a full deck, but you need to have a deck order memorized before you begin, which may be a bit confusing for beginners.
You can use the chart above to find each card’s number within the deck, but bear in mind that not all tarot authors and illustrators use the same system, so my numbers may not match the numbers on your cards and in your guidebooks. I read in the Rider-Waite-Smith style, with the Major Arcana first, the Fool as card 0 (not 22), and the minor suits in the following order: wands, cups, swords, pentacles.
1. Write out each item of your to-do list on its own sticky note.
2. If you know something needs to come first or last, set those items aside.
3. Shuffle you card deck well, thinking about your list. Fan out the cards face down.
4. If you have any assigned items from step 2, draw a card for each of those, still face down. Keep those cards set aside.
5. Draw one card from your fan for each unassigned item on your to-do list, still keeping all cards face down. Set the rest of the deck aside.
6. Place your sticky notes on the back of each chosen card.
6. Place your sticky notes on the back of each chosen card.
8. Turn your cards over, and sort them into numerical order. Set them out in a row. Bring the stickies to the front.
9. Bring back your first and/or last cards, if any, and place them in your timeline. If you’ve drawn The Fool for any other to-do, place it together with your pre-assigned first item. They need equal immediate attention.
9. Bring back your first and/or last cards, if any, and place them in your timeline. If you’ve drawn The Fool for any other to-do, place it together with your pre-assigned first item. They need equal immediate attention.
10. Write down your ordered list, with notes on the accompanying cards. Each card tells you something you need to know about each project on your list, or contains advice on how to tackle each to-do. Use your intuition.
11. Follow your list. Go do the stuff!
11. Follow your list. Go do the stuff!
Deck pictured: The Ancient Italian Tarot published by Lo Scarabo.
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