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 o
wn 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 t o 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