The list book

I am a list maker, always have been. If I don’t write a thought down on a piece of paper, the thought flies away never to be found. For years I have kept a list book, a spiral bound book that has all my lists in it. There are reno ideas, books to read, appointments, recipes to try, gifts to buy, things I want to buy or receive, and places to go. There are also several to-do lists in it, sorted by project, or date, or work involved in the task. It’s always been my space to braindump, and I have relied on it to keep me on track.

In the last year or so I’ve noticed that I am not as “on top” of things as I once was. I stopped using the list book, and started to try and track my lists electronically, on either my laptop or iPhone. It’s been a failure, as things weren’t getting entered into the appropriate list or calendar, or there was never one program or app that answered my varied needs. Recently I’ve started to really lose track of things, and last week was the final straw.

I got an email from on of our teenaged babysitters, confirming that she was available to babysit the following Wednesday. It was clearly in response to a request that I had made, but I had no idea why we booked her, and neither did Willy. This distressed me greatly, and it took a couple of days and an extensive sort through my emails for it to come back to me. I was lost and knew it was time to reinstitute the list book. I am much happier now, pen to paper, populating it with all sorts of little lists. The first one in the book is the list of lists, of course.

Category: Uncategorized | 8 comments

  • Gary says:

    Wow! Sounds like Mary (@tweepwife)!! Except I think she’s found a workable electronic version now. I on the other hand lack a system entirely 😉

  • Jennerknit says:

    Thanks for the reminder, even f it doesn’t help
    my productivity directly, good ld pen and paper
    can hel clear my head. 🙂

  • Alicia says:

    I need a list book. My lists are everywhere.

  • Deb says:

    Love my lists. And they seem to work best for me on paper too 🙂

  • Vicky says:

    I’m a list maker too, also because I have the worst memory! Did you ever figure out why you booked the sitter?

  • Ron says:

    Have you tried OmniFocus? It has a Mac and iOS version. Unfortunately, no Windows version, so if that is a primary platform for you then well, never mind… but for us converted Mac weenies, it is a great app.

  • Finola says:

    If I don’t have a paper list, I cannot function. Even if I have only three things to get done, I have to write them down first before I do them. I love the idea of a list book though and I think I will have to buy a small and pretty notebook now!

  • Sasha says:

    My iPhone had eclipsed my list book for a while, but I’m back to a mix now. I started keeping a notebook while I’m learning a new programming language (to write iPhone apps, ironically), but I’m only half-way through the book and it’s already got reno notes, phone messages, and an assortment of other write-it-before-I-forget-it bits and pieces. I still dream of having an app for that though – I just haven’t found the right one – because there’s also been a couple of times that I haven’t been able to find my stuff in the book.

    You said you keep things organized in your book? How?!?! Oh, and I’m also curious as to whether you ever found out what the sitter was for…


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