Are you a list-maker? My grandmother and my mother were both avid list-makers and I find myself following in their footsteps on this. There is something pleasantly orderly and hopeful about making a list.
When I sit down to make a list, I am being intentional. I am putting my mind to the task of ordering my thoughts, and selecting which ones of them are most applicable or attainable. I am choosing which of my thoughts I can align with my intentions to make things happen.
Sometimes the making of a list is just that: an activity to order my thoughts.
Sometimes I set about to check off the items on my list, using the list as a catalyst to action and a way to reach those moments of feeling accomplished. Those small efforts help to build self-esteem and keep my life structured in a way that I find pleasing.
The Action of Making a List Is Also Important
There are myriad ways to go about list-making. Each one appeals to a different type of list-maker. The hand-scrawled grocery lists to the app-centered checkboxes we have on our phones — however we make our lists can be as pleasurable as it is orderly.
The Medium
It pleases me to select which paper to use, whether plain, in a notebook, decorative, or a pre-printed page with themes or checklist blanks. The mood could also call for an Excel sheet, a Google Sheets document, or a form created with various software. The medium used to make the list is a part of the mood, and also sets the tone for the importance of a list. You may feel like typing our your list. Or you may feel like writing it in glittery ink. Whatever pleases you — do it!
The Method
Next, if you’re a hands-on pen-to-paper sort of person, choosing a pen! Oh, this part makes the nerdy part of me swoon.
The instrument you choose to use also lends to the mood, the finished result, and the permanence of your list. Feeling silly or experimental? Choose the glittery pens or ones with decorative tassels. (I like the ones with a fake diamond thing on the end. They make me feel super girly, yet chic.) Feeling organized and businesslike? Use a smooth gel pen or other formal writing instrument. I love Inkjoy pens. I have at least 40 of them!
Or type your list. It’s ok! Some of us love the drum of our fingers on a keyboard. The ease of the backspace key when there’s a flub.
Feeling nostalgic or reflective? Break out that fountain pen and give calligraphy a shot. Quill and ink? Go for it.
The Form
Wide loopy script or blocky, streamlined print, the “font” you use is critical to the making of a pleasant and satisfying list. For me, scribbles are a complete no-no, but for you, there may be scribbles and doodles and errors. How your list looks to you is up to you! If it pleases you and accomplishes for you what you need it to do, then it is right, and ok, and good. Let your list-making be an outward expression of your own mind and your own creative or organizational intention.
The Outcome
What you do with your list is another matter. You can toss them, file them, burn them or decorate them with all the sparkles and stickers in your bullet journaling arsenal — the outcome is far less important than how your list-making behaviors are serving you. Perhaps they help you to wake the mind at the beginning of your day, prioritizing your day with fun check boxes that drive you from task to task. Perhaps, they help you to organize your thoughts, then right into the bin the list goes.
The key here is to do what brings you joy, and peace of mind, and helps you to be more —rather than less—productive.
What Does Being a List-Maker Say About You?
If you’re a list-maker or if you have this internal drive to organize your life, your thoughts, well — anything — into lists, you’re not alone in this. But why do we do this? Is it helpful or obsessive? Let’s continue the conversation…
Speaking of lists:
Here’s one on Self-Care (just in time for Self-Care Awareness Month - September, hey that’s NOW!
Self-Care Tips for the Mind, published in Better Advice
Self-Care Tips for the Body, published in Illumination
Coming soon - Self-Care Tips for the Spirit. Stay tuned!
That’s all for now! I hope you have a blessed and wonderful, energized week!
~ Christina M. Ward
Health & wellness freelancing professional
Poet & author