CreatorWorship

I previously proclaimed my proclivity for and prowess with lists. You can check that out at Lists.

The other day I stepped up my list using a notch. I now live outside of the town I lived in for 22 years. There and back that is now 50 minutes of driving. There are frequently multiple chores to do when in town. I have recently felt a mild frustration at the inefficiency of getting things done in town, increased by the price of gas. One worried little about either when things were a 3- 5 minute drive from the house. So, I thought, what would be the most efficient route for getting the chores done. I decided to sketch a map, labelling all of the places I needed to go and then mark an order of visiting various venues. It turned out to be a circle. As you can see, I have labelled highway numbers and initials of places to visit.

The oval represents the town, which reminded me of a small developmental art lesson I had one time. An artist had observed many children drawing. In the video children were shown drawing. He points out to the commentator, ‘See, she puts a circle around it.’ Then he explains that at a certain developmental stage, children circle their scribble and call it an object, a person, a thing. Before that they just scribble. After that they are trying to draw an object they hold in their mind.

In the middle of the circuit, we decided that we needed to make an additional stop. I just added it to the circuit without any backtracking or inefficiency. I wondered how few of stops need a map. Is it how many stops I can easily hold in my mind with all of the other details running around in my head and without forgetting a stop? Or is complexity of the route? Or is it the amount time between planning the trip and executing it? Is the number 2 or 3 or 5? Certainly this list of 6 was enough for me to not immediately see the most efficient route without mapping it out.

It saved time, gas, and frustration trying to figure out where I should go next. And given that I don’t just walk or drive a few minutes to this store or that business and come back home, it may become a more regular habit to map-list where to go…”Next!”