The Underrated Power of List-Making

It was Thoreau who said “simplify, simplify.” This sounds…well, simple but I think it’s actually one of the more difficult skills to master in life, mainly because life itself tends to not be all that simple. However, I believe the more you break things down, the simpler they become. For instance, the practice of mindfulness reminds us to pay attention to little things like feeling our feet hitting the ground as we walk or noticing the way the water feels when we wash our hands. Over the years, many well-known artists and writers have seen list-making as another form of simplifying and practicing mindfulness. Susan Sontag said that lists “confer value,” while Ray Bradbury famously used them as triggers for ideas and stories, often jotting down words and phrases like “THE LAKE. THE NIGHT. THE CRICKETS. THE RAVINE. THE ATTIC. THE BASEMENT… THE CARNIVAL. THE CAROUSEL. THE DWARF. THE MIRROR MAZE. THE SKELETON.”* It’s quite incredible to imagine how Bradbury was able to pen such amazing stories using this process. On my notepad, I have scrawled the words “lists, goals, simplify, rewards” while brainstorming this post. It provided a jumping off point; it brought some sense of simplicity to what I was attempting to write, as perhaps it did for Bradbury as well.**

Understatement of the millennium: we are harried, frazzled, stressed: you know the adjectives by now. Here’s how list-making can help you to do the seemingly impossible: simplify.

Go beyond the Grocery List: According to Paula Rizzo, author of Listful Thinking: Using Lists to be More Productive, Highly Successful and Less Stressed***, “a to-do list will make you more efficient in getting stuff done for the day. But a goal- or life-list will set your real dreams in motion. Sketching out where you’d like your life to go on paper is a smart exercise because it really makes you think about where you are currently and where you’d like to go.” Boy is this true. What a difference in meaning and intent there is between a list that says “buy salad and fruit” and one that says “lose 20 pounds, get ready for summer.”

Put Pen to Paper: I think there is significant value in putting pen to paper when thinking about goals. In fact, according to a study at Dominican University of California, “once you put pen to paper on a goal — you are 33 percent more likely to actually achieve it.”****It provides a concrete reminder of what you are setting out to do, and holds you accountable for doing it; it transforms the idea from fleeting to permanent. I have learned over the years that if I think of something in the middle of the night, I need to write it down no matter how tired I am. You never know what you opportunities you might miss by not making things concrete.

How can students use lists? Students can and should adopt some of the benefits of list-making. I am currently a student myself, studying psychology and social work, so this applies to me as much as it does to high school or college-aged folks. Yes, some of my lists are of the “to-do” variety (1. finish research 2. do bibliography 3. meet with group), but others are more long-term and goal-oriented (1. Master’s degree 2. create narrative therapy program 3. adolescents in crisis). The latter list speaks to some of my ongoing goals, and is more than simply a to-do type of reminder. Indeed, putting pen to paper and thinking big has helped me to clarify some of what I wish to do moving forward. It will still be hard work, as I have no doubt Bradbury’s novels were, but it puts my purpose into view and helps me to see it as not only a reality, but as something I can work towards and eventually achieve.

* https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/10/18/ray-bradbury-on-lists/

**Disclaimer: Mr. Bradbury has contributed many enduring works to the American literary canon, and I in no way intend to compare myself to him.

***http://www.amazon.com/Listful-Thinking-Productive-Successful-Stressed/dp/1632280035/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458249311&sr=1-1&keywords=listful+thinking

****http://www.forbes.com/sites/emmajohnson/2015/12/17/the-life-changing-magic-of-list-making/#614d1d3045e3

Written by Phil Lane