The Quirky Habits of List-Making

Page after page, scribble, rip, start over

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. And as a side-note, the chewed pencil in the above picture gives me tremendous anxiety. There are no chewed-up implements in my orderly list-making journey, for the record.

Maybe you can relate? Are your desks, pockets, and drawers full of partially constructed lists, checked-off shopping lists, or are there balls of wadded-up incomplete or messed up lists in your wastebasket? Yeah, me too. It makes me wonder what all of this is about — mentally, I mean. Are some people more prone to list-making? Is there such a thing as too much list-making? What does this all say about a person?

Why Do We Make Lists?

When I sit down to make a list, I am being intentional. I am putting my mind to the task of ordering my thoughts, selecting which ones of them are most applicable or attainable, and then adding them to a categorized list. 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.

Why you make lists could be quite different. I encourage you to think about the intentionality of your list-making practices and what it may contribute to your life.

The Action of Making a List Is Important in and of Itself

I have lists for everything from grocery shopping to bucket lists to all of my writing goals on Milanote boards. (It’s kind of like Trello, only a bit more vision-board-esque.) I have bucket lists of places I want to visit and personal goals I’d like to achieve. Do I always revisit lists once I make them? Not always. One list, Books I’ve Read, gets an update throughout each year as I keep track of all the books I have read in a given year, a carry-over from my Bullet Journal days. It is one of my most used lists and one that brings me both joy and a sense of accomplishment, slow reader that I am. It also keeps me motivated to read because I want that satisfaction of adding a title or new author to my list. I also have lists of all books by certain authors so I can check them off as I read them. I think these are more “wish lists” than a game plan. It’s ok — lists can be either of those and both have merit.

What I find most enjoyable about list-making is more about the action of making the list than it is about completing all of the items on a checklist.

The Medium

It pleases me to select which paper to use, whether plain, in a notebook, decorative, dot journal or graph paper pages, 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.

The Method

Next, choosing a pen. The writing 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. Feeling organized and businesslike? Use a smooth gel pen or other formal writing instrument. Or type your list. Feeling nostalgic or reflective? Break out that fountain pen and give calligraphy a shot.

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 (and lead to instant ripping and wadding of paper), 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 altogether. For some, once those thoughts are materialized into an orderly list, that may be enough on its own. For others, the list is merely the beginning of the process and they will work to check off the list or modify it until they have completed the purpose of the list.

Toss the list or work it , forget about it — lost in the folds of mail on your desk, or hang it on your fridge— the control of that moment is ultimately yours.

What Does Your List-Making Say About You?

The psychology of list-making is an interesting field of study, one that psychologists have pursued in detail. According to the Zeigarnik Effect, incomplete tasks are easier for us to remember. Want to test that theory? Think of how easily you are able to forget about things you have already done. It is as if once those things are completed, you put them out and away from your mind so you can focus on other things that need to be done. List-making helps us to organize those incomplete tasks so that we can keep the thoughts of them from intruding on our consciousness and bogging down our minds. People who have a propensity to mentally surf from thought to thought will often benefit from organizing those thoughts and penning them into a list.

Mental Health Benefits of List-Making

Writing lists can have some pleasing mental purposes as well, other than the obvious productivity perks.

• Making lists can help to decrease anxiety.
• Helps to reduce ruminating thoughts, which can be mentally taxing if left unchecked. (No pun intended.)
• A fun, creative outlet (think Bullet Journals and vision boards).
• Helps you to remember things you might otherwise forget.
• A form of communication — with a partner, your kids, or co-workers.
• Can put words to your dreams and make you feel a rush of excitement or hopefulness about your future.

Healthline.com breaks list-making into three main categories: Self-care, productivity, and leisure, which makes perfect sense to me. In an article How to Tweak Your To-Do List for Your Mental Health, Sarah Bence, an occupational therapist (OTR/L) and freelance writer, points out the importance of balance when it comes to our list-making practices and warns against letting it get out of hand.

When List-Making Becomes a Sign of Something Else

What about when you have so many lists you have lists of your lists? When creating lists helps with your anxiety; fantastic! But when your personality traits, stress level, and other factors cause you to obsessively make lists, causing more stress and anxiety that it is meant to do, this could be a sign of something more serious. If list-making becomes compulsive or obsessive it can intrude on your life and potentially affect your relationships or job performance. As a sufferer of OCD myself, I have come to recognize when my list-making is healthy and when it may be time to reach out for help.

Questions You Can Ask yourself:

• Is this activity (making this list/vision board/etc) enjoyable to me (relieving stress) and helping me to be more productive or positive?
• Is it keeping me from facing reality/actually doing things/or making me avoid my own life?
• Is it helping or is it a problem?

For the Avid List-Makers

You do you.

Get your flashy pens and your colorful paper, unfold that list right out in public at the grocery store, and climb into your happy list-making place. Or get all-in with a list-making app like Anylist (which I LOVE).

It’s been my experience that most people make lists from time to time, when they need to, but some of us do it altogether differently. We can put our names on a name badge with the title: List Maker. We embrace our lists as if they were creative extensions of ourselves that march all of our thoughts into order, and we love it.

It’s ok. Let that list-making freak flag fly because we, my checkbox friends, are many.

Thank you for reading.

◦•●Christina M. Ward ●•◦: Poet, naturist, well-living blogger, full time freelance writer, avid list-maker and gel pen collector.