Lists can be your savior! Let’s talk about how. Ever been in these situations?
Your partner looks at you and says “Where shall we go out to eat tonight?” You look back at them, drawing a blank, just shrug your shoulders, “I don’t know, where do you want to go?”
You find out school is cancelled for the day, the kids run to you saying “Yay, no school today! What are we gonna do?!” You suddenly can’t come up with any ideas…?
It’s your parent’s birthday party next week. You need to get them something. You can’t come up with anything? Darn it dad, why is it so difficult to think of gifts for you!?
Your boss emails, “we need to submit our upcoming training and travel budgets, can you fill in what you need by Monday?” You spend hours coming up with something.
“The biggest lie I tell myself is ‘I don’t need to write that down, I’ll remember it.’”
-cover of a notebook on Amazon-
If you keep a list, thoughts become easy to remember and no longer cloud your mind. Keeping lists will help you live your life in a more organized manner. It enables you to divide and even reorganize your thoughts into smaller chunks for better prioritization and execution. In addition, if the lists are actions or activities, it can provide motivation and give you a sense of fulfillment as you check them off.
As humans, we all have the tendency to forget things. According to Elizabeth Loftus, a well-known contemporary psychologist and memory researcher, in her study about why people forget, people tend to lose information because of ‘encoding failures’, preventing bits of thoughts from entering long-term memory. If you write down important stuff the moment it crosses your mind, you won’t have to juggle it in your head with everything else.
“We spend our time forgetting what we ought to be doing, and what we’ve already done. Lists provide support, backing up these things we’ve been unable to memorize”, says psychoanalyst François Leguil.
We should clarify the lists we’re going to talk about here. These lists are different from a “to-do list” which contains actions you need to take. These are not actions-to-take as much as they’re ideas-to-remember. They are collections of thoughts, many of which people may be “put on the spot” to recall.
Here’s a bunch of ideas of lists that people have found helpful. People update these lists regularly, whenever something comes to mind, they’re “living, breathing” lists:
Packing List - There may be several of these in one place.
General overnight trip packing list,
bike trip packing list,
backpacking adventure packing list,
work trip list,
band/performance packing list,
and more….
I’ve found it helpful to keep a section at the top of these lists for the few extra things I need to remember for the upcoming trips, just write them down as they come to mind in the weeks before the trip, “That’s right, I need to remember to bring ____.” With these lists, now I never forget to pack anything and I avoid having that moment where I’m standing there before I leave, racking my brain, “What am I forgetting?” If you do forget anything, add it to the list, and you’ll never forget it again.
Books To Read - You get recommendations from friends, podcasts, courses, etc. I often draw a blank on what they were when I’m actually shopping for books. Not anymore!
Movies To See - Same reasons as Books To Read above! Also, because significant others and/or your family will love it that you wrote it down and remembered that movie you were talking about watching from before when you were discussing it.
Shopping List - What do you need from the store? For you it may make sense to separate this one into categories or even specific stores. Personally, I separate groceries, clothing, and household supplies on mine. I recently started keeping this list on Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home, so now I can just tell the device to “add _____ to my shopping list.” I can also pull it up on my phone or computer from anywhere, any time. It’s so convenient!
Take The Kids - A running list of what to do with the kids if they have a day off. May be a good idea to separate ideas into indoor and outdoor activities so this list is useful in all weather situations.
Gift List - What do you want for your birthday? For the holidays? What do your family members want? Keep this running list and update it whenever something comes to mind!
Bucket List - The life experiences you’ve always wanted. Places to travel to, vacation spots, things to do, post pandemic ideas, etc. I keep 2 sections of this list, one for local items, and one for items which would require travel.
Restaurants - I recommend 2 sections to this one. One for the restaurants people tell me about that I want to try, and the other is for the “go-to” restaurants that I love. The go-to restaurants section has been great for special occasions, or if a friend comes to town and asks for recommendations, I’m always ready with all my favorite ideas!
Date Ideas - They say no matter what stage of your relationship you’re in, you should never stop dating. Write down all the ideas you hear about, then when you’re looking for ideas, you’re ready.
Party/Event Prep - Gonna have people over? Or do you help host parties often? The supplies are often similar each time, so write this down, it’s like a checklist, so you know you’ll have everything, every time.
Change Mailing Address List - This has come up most often with college kids and young professionals that have moved frequently. There’s 2 sections to this list. The top section is the list of all the addresses you’ve had and the dates. The bottom section is a checklist of all the places that have your mailing address. This way when you move, you have a list of all the places/people to contact or the websites you need to go to and change your address in your profile on their website. You may not use this list often, but when you need it, it’s a lifesaver to have!
Go-To/Easy Meals To Cook - That moment when you realize you’re hungry. And you walk into the kitchen, maybe open the fridge and look inside, and wonder what to eat. These should be the go-to easy meals to cook which you enjoy and you feel good about!
Recipes to Try - This list may go along with or be a part of the above, but when friends share recipes, keep these thoughts together in one place so you can easily get back to them and try them. Also, if there’s any recipes that are real winners, have a place for those too! I’ve found Pinterest to be my favorite place for these, I have separate boards for types of dish and for the winning recipes I’ve tried and would make again!
Relationship Stuff - This list will evolve throughout your life.
When you’re single - It can be so helpful to have written down what you’re looking for in a significant other, why you weren’t compatible with past partners, and what did you learn from them for future relationships.
When you’re in a relationship - Keep a list of all the reasons the things you love about that person. Also, this is a good place to write down an idea if there’s something bothering you about your partner so you can get it out of your head, refer back to it if needed, and write out what you need to say to your partner if it keeps bothering you. This way you won’t blow up at them. It’s also good to review all the reasons you love them above while you’re writing out what’s bothering you. People lose sight of these reasons when they’re angry sometimes, so it’s good to refer back to them and remind yourself.
Home Improvement Projects - This is for all those home improvements you want to do. Write them down, so you have them when you’re ready.
Goals - What are the certain things you’re working toward? The best goals which are most likely to be hit are the ones you’ve written down.
Daily Reminders - Anything you need to remember daily?
Fitness - This may include the goals you’re working toward, or exercises and workouts you like, or more. Get them out of your head.
Trainings to take - At work, what are the courses you’d like to take?
Business Ideas - If you’re one of those entrepreneur types, sometimes you have ideas. Write them down as they come to you. This website was one of mine.
Hey Boss (for the next time you see them) - Inevitably, there are things you need to talk to your boss about, but it’s not always right to send an email about it, it would be better to discuss next time you see them or meet with them. Don’t forget!
Big Life Goals - Some people have a vision board which works for this, but if you’re not one of those people, definitely have a "Big Life Goals” list. It helps to review it every couple of months to see if you’re on the right track. Having it all written down helps to keep on track.
Icebreakers/Conversation-Starter - Works great for work functions, dating, parties and events, zoom calls, and more.
You might have others come to mind! If you want to share them I’d love to hear them, leave a comment or send me a note! These are only some of the examples. The lists themselves may be different for you, but the concept of writing all of them down is important to implement. Try it. You may find yourself a little more relaxed, now that you’re not spending energy or stressing trying to remember everything!
Where should you keep all these lists? It’s up to you. Wherever it is, you just need to know right where it is, so you can go straight to it. I often suggest solutions which are “in the cloud” so you can pull them up on any of your devices and any computer anywhere. That said, notebooks and marker boards may work for you too. For me, I mentioned above how my shopping list now lives on Alexa, and my recipes have moved to Pinterest. For most of the others, since I’m a gmail user, I use Google Drive/Docs. I also recommend Trello, Evernote, and the Notes app on Apple. All of these are free to use. Find the one(s) that work best for you and start writing it all down!
“There is something so powerful about getting your thoughts on to paper. Write it all down, and feel the stress fade away.”
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I’m Brian. At age 4, I was diagnosed with insulin dependent (type 1) diabetes and told that I was going to have a harder life that was likely 10-20 years shorter than normal. I’ve lived my best life every day since then, because you only get one chance to live it. I created Productivity Gladiator because I saw what a difference it made to share small and specific actions you can take right now, right away, to achieve better work life balance, be more productive, better manager your time, and live your best life right now not wait until retirement. I want you to start doing the things you WANT to do, not get stuck chasing what you NEED to do. If any of this resonates with you, send me a note. It brings me joy to share this passion with you.