A confession: I am a list maker. I started thinking about it the other day, and I might have gone over the top. But I am too close to the issue to know if it’s a problem. Can you help? My first instinct is to suspect that I have become OCD. But that doesn’t hold up—I am one of the least OCD people I know. My wife wishes I was more OCD. So I am looking for some input here—I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or not. Maybe it would be helpful to examine some lists.
- My Things to Do list – (center, sticky notes which attach to my Daily Log) – has an obvious purpose to it. How would I get things done? This is how I organize what I need to do and what I hope to do. I usually do a new one around every two weeks. I’ll occasionally make a daily one if I’m particularly scattered. I used to let Karen add to my list, but that was a bad idea. (She has decided she would rather make her own for me.) I don’t have a single list (I save them…sigh) that has every single item crossed off. Should the undone bother me? In fact, the real pleasure of this list is crossing things off. Sometimes I’ll cheat and add an item to the list that I already did just so I can cross it off. Come to think, the TtD list is non-negotiable—I couldn’t live without it.
- My Daily Log – (bottom left) – keeps track of how I spent my day. I’ll summarize a golf round (score, who I played with, $ won or lost). Any event that happened. My quiet time and what I’m reading. What we watched on TV (unless it was mindless). Food if it was exceptional or we ate out (I grade restaurants). Steps and sleep data from my Vivofit. And I try to write down a one-sentence description of any dream I remember (but if I don’t do that early, it will fade). The Daily Log is pretty ingrained in me—but I’m listening.
- My Planner’s – (top row left) – first function is to be a calendar. Appointments, golf tournaments, get-togethers, birthdays, holidays, vacations and trips. Yes, a phone is perfectly capable of doing this—I need the hard copy. And it’s useful to take it and compare it with Karen’s calendar hanging inside the pantry door. But my planner was becoming atrophied—Karen and I don’t really do that much. Then I discovered a new function. I write down every expenditure we make. It’s not that hard—we pay for everything by credit card or check, so all I have to do is go to Recent Transactions. For the little cash we use, I just record ATM transactions. A promise: in the face of financial woes, if you just start writing down where the money goes, your financial status will improve. Guaranteed.
- My Life Log – (top row center) – is nothing but a collection of lists. Over 130 cell phone #’s I don’t use frequently. A 20 year old address book (nine dead people in it). Screenplays I’ve read. A record of all the golf rounds I played from 1997 to 2009. All the books I’ve read since our book group started in 2000 (with grades). A log of all my submissions when I was trying to be an author. Nineteen easy-to-make dinners. Every movie I’ve seen since 1997 (with grades). Also lists of books, movies, and television series that I want to read and watch. Man, there’s a lot of useful information in that thing!
- My Prayer Journal – (bottom row center) – goes with me wherever I travel. Not sure if that qualifies as a list, but I have a whole drawer full of them, so it’s at least a collection. The reason I write my prayers is because my mind would wander uncontrollably when I did it the other way. What started as a paean of praise would end up as a puzzlement on why I putted from off the fringe on #7. An earnest entreaty would end up in the realization that Leonard and Penny would never be together in real life. So I write.
- I could go on…I have an Exercise Journal (bottom row right). Each page is a day of the year, January 1 to December 31, with spaces allotted for five years (2015 to 2019 for mine). I’m about half a year behind in that, but I can get the info from my Daily Log. And I have a Fantasy Sports Notebook (top row right).
- There’s hope! I thought of a list I’ve dropped: New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve come to believe that I’m never going to change myself. I have to allow God to change me. Somewhere it says, “…we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds…” It’s not about will-power; it’s about faith. And you don’t grow faith by making a list.
Time for a verdict—to list or not to list? I can make a reasonable defense. Life can be a blur; if you allow yourself to fall into a routine, it can become a fog. We are in danger of turning into automatons. And our culture has become a trash heap among which lie certain obscure gems. The antidote is awareness—of what we do, what we eat, who we are with, what we watch, how we spend our time. My lists help me figure all that out. “Teach us to number our days,” the Bible says. Unfortunately, I can also see the other side—so busy making lists one forgets to live—a schedule is the death knell for spontaneity—one man’s trash is another man’s treasure–you’ve only created more junk for your children to have to throw away.
So cast your vote. Be specific. Help me out.
I now only make shopping lists, or a list of the order I am disassembling something.
I have to create lists or I would never remember what I have to do, what I need to get, who I’m having lunch wirh on what day, when do I have a doctor ‘s appointment, for whom do I need to get birthday cards, etc., etc. Lists make my life better, even easier. I vote yes for lists!
You seem totally normal to me. ? You enjoy writing.…and like to see your thoughts (any thought) on paper.
I LOVE lists! I make a “To Do” list. I have my calendar marked with events. My address book and my list of movies I want to buy. Then there’s always temporary lists, i.e. “things to pack for travel”. However, I do feel like I am a spontaneous person. I think the lists bring some kind of order that I subconsciously crave to help “control” the chaos of life. I vote “yes”!
I myself am listless. Come on man, a bunch of lists?
I vote you are just fine. Spontaneity has never been your strong suit. Have you watched Godless btw? Both you and K would like it. Pop in sometime! LOL.