Lists

I think I have a phobia about making lists… well, that’s an exaggeration, not a phobia, but I am not a list making person… and yet I’m so envious of people who do make lists.

A friend at work used to make lists and he would cross things out with coloured pens so they became almost a piece of art… when I was at work I thought I ought to make lists because I am so forgetful, and time sort of eludes me so I miss appointments or meetings and sometimes even have a mental blank that there was an appointment or meeting. I have tried to make lists but would lose them or forget them or having made such an abbreviated note about whatever it was that even if I could read my own writing I would have no clue what it referred to. Even if I had the list, sometimes I would get side-tracked or distracted… My boss used to get so mad at me, so furious because she couldn’t understand me…

My daughter makes lists; beautiful, neat, legible lists in her beautiful, neat, legible handwriting. She ticks things off as she does them and then there is a beautiful, neat, legible, completed list. I have tried to follow her example as well, but it hasn’t really worked…

Apart from the satisfaction of finishing all those things, there is the realisation that time has not been wasted, because, look, here’s the evidence that THINGS HAVE BEEN DONE! So why am I so resistant to list making? Why do I struggle even to make a shopping list? Is it because I think I have a list inside my head? Inside that very same head which is full of lots and lots of other stuff, real stuff and imaginary stuff?

There was an article in the paper today entitled ‘How to conquer your to-do list’… well, how to create a to-do list would be better I guess… here is a brief outline of what you can apparently achieve, from the book from which the article was derived,’18  minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction and get the Right Things Done’:

1. make a top five things you want to focus on – over the year ahead, around which you can structure your time
2. create a six box to-do list – draw a line down a piece of paper, two lines across and there are your six boxes. put one of your focuses in each box – and then put all your things to do in each of the boxes – things which don’t fit go in the sixth box. I think you are supposed to tick off the things in the boxes as you do them – spending most of the time on your five focus boxes and only about 5% of your time on the sixth
3. plan your dairy strategically – putting your to do list tasks into the times you are supposed to be doing them
4. take a pause – spend 18 minutes each day finding your focus, five mins in the morning, five mins in the evening, and the last five mins at the end of the day reviewing what you’ve learnt/done/ what worked and what didn’t….

This seems so rigid and controlled… I guess if you are working in business it might be a good strategy… but… already I am bucking against it because it means listing things…

Perhaps I just don’t like to be tied to anything, maybe I like to be free, maybe I’m just an old hippy… or maybe I should try a modified to-do list… would stickers and stars work? Maybe!!

Here is a link to Peter Bregman’s book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MINUTES-DISTRACTION-Bregman-Sep-2012-Paperback/dp/B00KLUEHZI/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424608097&sr=1-7&keywords=peter+bregman