These are five real done list examples from one ordinary day — five things written as already done, before any of them had actually happened.

That’s the part people usually get wrong about this method: it’s not a diary you fill in afterward. You write it before — a short list of what you intend to get through, in the past tense, and then you go live the day underneath it. Here are five moments from one particular day that showed me why I still do this.

1. Meditated on the bus home

That morning’s list included: Meditated on the bus home. Nothing had happened yet — I hadn’t even left for work.

By the time I actually sat on that bus that evening, headphones in, city going by, the line was already sitting there in my notebook like a quiet instruction. I didn’t have to talk myself into it. It felt less like starting something and more like finishing something I’d already agreed to. Five minutes of just breathing, and I got off that bus arriving somewhere instead of just escaping somewhere.

2. Went to the park with the kids after lunch

Went to the park with the kids after lunch was on the list too — written before I even knew if the weather would hold.

It did. We went. Laughter, too much sun, the kind of ordinary afternoon I used to let slide by because I was “too busy” to notice it. The difference wasn’t the park — I’d have taken them anyway. The difference was that I’d already named it as something that mattered enough to write down that morning, so I actually paid attention to it instead of mentally filing it under “things happening while I think about other things.”

That’s the whole point of good done list examples — they only work if you actually notice them.

3. Ironed, baked, and cleaned without rushing

Ironed the laundry. Made the kindergarten rolls. Cleaned the kitchen. — three lines that sound almost aggressively unglamorous, and they are.

Before I did any of it, though, they were already sitting on my list as done. That changed something small but real: I moved through them slower, without the usual internal narration of what’s-next-what’s-next. Every task on that list existed so I could recognize afterward that it counted, not just so I could survive it.

Even the most unglamorous done list examples count, as long as they’re real.

4. Finished the first January planner cover

Finished editing the January cover. — this one I’d wanted for weeks and kept pushing to “later.” Writing it on the list that morning, already in the past tense, was the thing that actually got me to sit down and open the file that evening.

Creamy paper, soft beige tones, the CalmDone™ mark placed exactly where I wanted it — seeing it finished felt like watching something I’d already decided was possible catch up to reality. You can see that first cover in the Signature Collection, explore the full 12 Months of Calm Collection, and see more of the process on Pinterest.

5. What These Done List Examples Add Up To

After the kids were down, I looked back at that morning’s list — not to fill it in, but to see how much of it had actually caught up to what I’d written:

• Meditated on the bus home.
• Went to the park with the kids.
• Ironed, baked, and cleaned.
• Finished the January cover.

Every line had become true by the time I read it again. Before this method, I’d have ended that same day mentally cataloguing what I hadn’t gotten to. Instead, I ended it with a list that had already told me, that morning, that it would be enough. It was.

The Done List™ Method was never about doing more. It’s about deciding, before the day starts, what “enough” looks like — and writing it down like it’s already yours. That’s what these done list examples have in common — not more effort, just a different sentence written first.