The Art of Listmaking

Many years ago, I caught my best friend chuckling at me for making a list of video games I wanted to buy. Curious, I asked her why. With an affectionate eye-roll, she told me that it was one thing her husband and I had in common that she'll never understand.

While her husband and I very likely have different reasons for the habit, I can say for certain that it effectively does a lot of favors for me: it keeps me from impulsive spending when my broke-ass does have money and it helps me decide what is valuable and what is worth my time. 

(When it comes to shopping lists, I tend to have another rule when it comes to temporary and permanent decisions. If I still want a thing after six months, then I should buy it. For things like tattoos and piercings, it's actually a six YEAR rule. Loosely-- I don't ACTUALLY count the years, but if I've noticed the desire remains for years, I understand it's not passing. The 'six' part just sounds nicer.)

Small notepads are stashed everywhere in my room and they typically have a simple purpose-- daily and weekly lists. Monday, Wednesday and Friday tend to be my target active days so I plan for those the day before. I scribble down what I hope to get done and throw on some maybes. If I don't do it all that day, I push it to another-- Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays tend to be 'leftover' days because of this. No, I don't heavily plan this. It seems to just be the way I work best. It's really not as structured as it seems, but I'll get to that.

None of my planning necessitates anything as formal (or time-consuming) as a day planner. If I really need to keep track of an event, I just use an electronic calendar. This goes for repeating events especially (thank you, birthday reminders). What works best is disposable notepads for the variables of life. At the top are priorities of that day. In the middle is an ordered list of quick tasks and maybes. At the bottom are ongoing projects I can choose from. These are still priorities but of the 'Rome wasn't built in a day' sort.

Here's the thing-- once I write them, I rarely need the list but not writing them almost guarantees I'll forget something. On days where I'm really not motivated, checking things off is an odd incentive. Writing and marking things off is one of the easiest rewards systems for functioning according to plan. This is the same reason I actually prefer to hand-write ideas in notebooks despite apps and built-in notepad functions available. I rarely ever consult the notes I write again, but there is something about the act of writing each letter by hand that seals it in my head far more effectively than typing it does. I need to connect each thought to the letters they represent whereas typing is simply a convenience for speed and neatness. I love that I can throw out my thoughts quickly, distribute them even quicker, but if I really want to remember them, there's nothing like handwriting.

Either way, I consider all of the items on a list as a suggestion. Priorities even sometimes get pushed. If I just don't feel well or something comes up, anything can move. Things that get pushed too much often get upgraded to a priority. Why? Because there's only so much pushing until it's clearly procrastination or an excuse. Then I have to look at it differently.

My obsessive habit of alphabetizing my game collections into lists actually turned into a motivational tool in this too. (What I didn't share much then was the fact that my siblings liked to steal and sell my shit so it was a safeguard for keeping track of it. Now, I just put a lock on my bedroom door.) Organization only kind of helps since my best attempts to create order are often forgotten and result in digging around trying to find them anyway. However, to-do lists continue to be a great way to keep moving, to keep refining my workflow, to keep looking for a better way to create order in the constant chaos.

You can definitely add making lists to the list of ways to fake focus. List-Inception, at its finest. Mentally or in practice, life is often a list in a list in a list...

Let's flip to the other side of this practice for a moment. For some people, not completing lists comes with a demotivational sense of failure. It's a perception you have to actively learn to discard. Seriously, regrets are shit. You can only move forward. After making a mistake, my dad used to give me a lot of shit for it but there really wasn't anything to be done to change it and if there was a way to fix it, I'd already thought about and did it. I only ever ask for advice if I've truly exhausted my own resources. (And let's face it-- most people looking for 'advice' on anything other than an opinion are simply looking for peer approval/conflict. For facts alone, Google is gonna cover your ass.) Rather than compound the guilt, you have to similarly remind your critics (or the critic that made the list/did the failure- ahem, you) that it's something you will labor not to repeat.

In that same way, this attitude helped me be less anxious of things that haven't happened yet. It's unavoidable that I'm always thinking of best and worst case scenarios, but I don't get very anxious before interviews, mainly because I know they'll either like me or not and I'll answer the questions to the best of my ability. It ceases to matter how badly I want the job or what it could mean to my future if that just means I'll be a mess where it matters. If there's any anxiety, it's me telling my mouth not to run away with the honesty of my brain. (Don't overshare, Krista.)

Lists are just another planning guide in your behavioral toolbox. A good habit in a long line of tempting bad habits. However, they have the long-term ability to develop a good attitude if you don't beat yourself up over what isn't done. Grab a whiteboard or a corkboard, a planner or a tablet and work to remind yourself daily of what might matter. Having things specifically dedicated to this habit truly helps. Tablets can be distracting, if only for the ease at which you can get distracted from taking notes/lists to hop over to FB or check messages. Again, this is why I recommend just buying stacks of cheap spiral/composition notebooks. While you can get distracted in thought, handwriting still requires purposeful marking. Even if you switch over to mindless doodling (which I do) there's a greater tendency to get back on track when your real estate is limited to the physical page and there's no 'accidentally' opening Facebook.

When you don't regret how you spend your resources, it's a valuable tool. No, it doesn't have to be daily or weekly. Sometimes people just keep a calendar. My dad is a random list maker and only when he's super motivated. If you're forgetful rather than neglectful, even better. Sometimes we tell ourselves it's neglect but this often removes that possibility when those lists are consistently met. It's not always procrastination that makes us unproductive but some simple lack of a task that keeps us ordered on our task.

I've mentioned before but puzzles are a terrific way to create a mentality for focus. I tend to avoid brain scrambling moments after taking time to hyperfocus on a task. Diet can be a huge help too. Omega 3s, found in fish or supplements, is touted as a terrific way to get your brain function on point. In truth, there's rarely ever ONE thing we do that contributes to the best methods for productivity. I really just enjoy making lists and always have. If I sat and thought about it, I could think of a time all the way back to when I learned to write words where I was making some kind of list. Even before words, there was the temptation to draw as many fruits as I could think of-- shapes, animals, etc. I've always loved to satisfy how things might be grouped according to what I need from them.

Ha, and we do get a lot of shit for grouping things these days, don't we? As if noticing the difference between men and women or skin colors, etc. is some sort of cardinal sin. Ironically, people often end up ignorant out of a fear of seeming ignorant. Stop asking, stop talking, stop searching, stop making stupid lists... Nah, take some risks that you'll look stupid to avoid actually being 'stupid' for acceptance.

I'm jumping around just to feel out what might be some mental hurdles here. I know I favor handwriting, but some people have terrible handwriting. Finding a strategy is about personal preference and resources. If anything, I'd always say adaptability is going to be key with this one as it is with most. List-making is secondhand for a lot of people, but like a lot of things, people also fall out of certain habits and don't realize its value when it could be best used.

How do lists help you through layered tasks or everyday life? How much of a hot mess are you without the joy of lists? I'm kidding, but really, lists are a pretty terrific way to assist a busy brain.