FOUR REASONS YOU SHOULD BECOME A LISTMAKER

Hi! My name is Sandy and I'm a list maker. I make lists of lists. I list things I’ve already done just so I can cross them off! I have a notebook for each list. Is there a list makers anonymous group? Because maybe I need to go. List making is a simple pleasure for me. Maybe it doesn’t sound “simple” or “pleasurable” to you. But I’m going to make a believer out of you... With a list! Hah!

 So here’s a list of four reasons you should become a list maker:

1) It helps you be intentional and focused.    Have you ever said to yourself, ” I’m going to do that someday” and then you never do? Life can get in the way of our good intentions. We get busy and things fall by the wayside. But making a list of what we intend to do keeps things in the forefront of our minds.  We are more apt to be intentional about the things we want or need to do if we make a list. It’s the best way to actually do the things you intend to do!

2) It keeps you organized.   We live in an ordered world. The sun rises and sets. The seasons follow one after the other. OK  sometimes in Minnesota, the season of  Spring is skipped but still. There is order there.  There is even order in how our bodies work. And if we want to live in the flow of this order we need to be orderly and organized ourselves. Yes, we do! I can hear some of you  “messies” out there bitterly resisting this but it is true. And making lists of things helps us keep our lives orderly and ordered.

3) It helps you remember.   Now that I’m getting older I tend to forget some things. If I didn’t make lists, I would forget half the things I intended/needed/wanted to do. But even if you are not old like me, let’s be honest here, you can forget some things. Who hasn’t gone to the grocery store without a list and got home only to have forgotten some things? And doesn’t that get frustrating? And time consuming when you have to go back to the store?

4) It adds to the fun of the events you want to happen.   Did you see the movie, “Bucket List”? As a chronic list maker you’d think that would be at the top of my list of things to do. Didn’t get there. It wasn’t on my list. As a result of that movie more people are making lists of things they want to do.  But not necessarily before they die. They just want to make sure they do them… so they make a list. If you haven’t done that, you are missing out on some fun! Making the list, the anticipation, the planning, the imagining, the dreaming, is all part of the fun of the event itself. In fact, it has been discovered that people have more fun in the planning than the actual event. That is because your brain doesn’t know the difference between imagining the event and the event itself! So you double your fun!
So go get yourself a new notebook or journal, a pen or pencil, a cup of your favorite beverage, a place to get comfortable, and start your list making. In the end it will make life easier and more enjoyable. Start with your fun bucket list, then go on from there…things to do list, grocery list, home project list, things to take on vacation list, blog posting list, a list of your lists…

I’m off to make my “2015 Summer Bucket List”!