Why Lists Help Keep You Organized

There are “list” people and then there are others. If you are a list person, you’ve probably been one all your life. If not, you probably won’t suddenly wake up one morning and shout, “Hey, I’m going to make a list of what I need to do today!” But even if you’re not a list person, it’s a fact that they can help keep you organized; and there are many reasons why.

Lists work as a guide and a reminder. That’s how they keep you organized. For example, in planning your day, if you have a list of ten things you need to do, when you write them down, seeing all the items in front of you not only reminds you but gives you an opportunity to put them in some kind of order. This is helpful if you have running around chores all over town. In an effort to conserve gas, by looking at your list, you know what chores outside the house should be done and in what order.

The most common are “to do” lists. You know, as in the “honey-do” lists that wives make for their husbands or the everyday list of things to accomplish on any given day. Many people wouldn’t make a move without their list in hand and even write one for the next day the previous evening. Now that’s organized!

Sometimes, out of one list, others may come. Take for instance the “honey-do” list. If your wife gives you a list of five things you have to do on the weekend, you may find that for three of them, you need to go to different stores to get materials, such as paint, insulation, gardening tools, etc. Best to tackle the initial list and make a separate list out of that, shop for what you need, and then get back to the original list and down to the jobs.

Another list that almost everyone uses is a weekly grocery list. If you plan meals ahead of time, this is extremely important so that when you go to pull out everything you need to make a particular dish, you have it. There’s nothing worse when you’re in the kitchen getting ready to cook and having to make an unexpected trip to the market.

Lists extend to other areas of life, too. You may like to keep a list of New Year resolutions. Many people do, although they sometimes are forgotten or disregarded during the year.

There are also lists of goals that some people are fond of compiling. Such lists tell where you want to be in five or ten years or show in black and white what you want to accomplish over a certain period of time, such as the purchase of a house or writing the great American novel.

Lists are good because they help keep you organized. Once you get in the habit of using them, it’s hard to go without them.