Now and again in counselling I find myself bestowing the benefits of listing to a client who is struggling to make a decision, reach a goal or to see things with balance and clarity.
Committing things to paper can be a big help with clarity, motivation and with organisation. It can feel overwhelming at times, when you have too much to do and too little time to do anything. Having a list allows you to see exactly what needs attention, what the priorities are, what the quick and easy jobs are, what tasks you can do on your own and what you may need help with. Listing pros and cons can really help with decision making, and listing “evidence” can help you to see a more realistic view of how things are when you feel stuck or confused.
As a self-confessed “lister”, I thought I’d share a list or two of my own
Things I list most often
- Jobs to do
- Shopping lists
- Everything I’ve eaten in a day
- How much money I’ve spent
- Books to read
- Pros and cons
Things I like about lists
- Any excuse for a new notebook!
- Crossing things off
- Writing things I’ve already done, just to cross them off
- Breaking big things up into doable smaller things
- Updating untidy lists with neater lists
- Feeling organised and accomplished
Things I don’t like about lists
- Finding an old list and discovering that many of the things on it are still on my current list
- Feeling overwhelmed by identifying too many things to do
- Feeling disappointed by too few things accomplished
- Realising I’ve spent so much time listing and re-listing that I’ve wasted time I should have spent doing stuff
Top 5 things on my current to do list…
- BACP Accreditation application (yes, it’s still on-going!)
- Housework
- Seeing to the recycling
- Sorting out my car insurance renewal
- Cleaning my car (AKA my dog’s sand pit!)
If you’re already a “lister” or you’d like to be, you may find this interesting The List Producer
And if you just like random lists of stuff, this site might float your boat Listverse