The List
I am a Virgo. We are supposedly organized. I presume that means we make lists.
I make lists. Lost of lists. Lists of lists. On paper — always.
Most people are now using digital lists and calendars on their phones. When I am at my daughter’s house, I will hear, “Alexa, add apples to the grocery list.”
Nope, not me. I am using my phone most of the day (and, don’t tell anyone, sometimes in the middle of the night). And I am on the computer for multiple hours in any day. But all the lists I make are on paper.
I don’t just have one list. I actually have a “master” list. This list is typed, so it is on my computer. It is printed out, placed on a clipboard, and sitting on one of the shelves on my desk, out of sight. Every so often, I look at it, and if I am lucky, I can cross off a few of the things I have actually done. It is a comprehensive list: book business things, music things, travel things, hobby things, things I need to fix in the house, things I need — and want — to buy, and sometimes things I want to research or write blog posts about. Sometimes — don’t laugh — when I want to relax and clear my head, I will update that list, print it out again, replace the old one with this one on the clipboard, and put it back in the desk. I rarely look at it.
My cannot-live-without list is the agenda book that sits on my desk next to my computer. I look at this one. A lot. I have been using these black “Week at a Glance” books for decades. I actually kept them until I moved from California to Florida when I finally threw away some of them from the 1980s. Back then I used the small ones. Now I use the seven-by-eight-inch books. The photo with this post is a page from this year’s book. You can see how busy and important I am!
Of course there is also a magnetic list on my refrigerator where I jot things I need to buy as I think of them — although sometimes by the time I get to the kitchen, I have forgotten what I was going to write. This list is for groceries, but also anything else I think of that I want (need?) to buy.
When I go grocery shopping, I copy the groceries on that list onto a new list to take with me. I cross them out on the refrigerator list, which also has things I want to buy from Amazon and anyplace else. I buy a lot on Amazon. I know I am not the only one to do this, but I often try to put the grocery list in order of the store setup. However, I just stopped going to Publix (since they now allow open carry — of guns, not groceries), and the new store was seemingly randomly arranged.
When I feel ready to make an Amazon buy, I make a list from the fridge list and bring it to the office. This is when I make a multi-item Amazon purchase.
One last list: If I have a really busy day and lots of things to get done, I also have one of those magnetic pads on my desk, and I make a list of things to do for that day and often put them in order. If they require a trip in the car, I try to put them in geographic order.
Do I get everything done on my agenda book list? Hardly. Things that don’t get done are moved to another day. I am so busy with my lists, I hardly have any time to get things done!
As I look around my office, I also see a list of books I want to read, a list of the books I have written with their prices, and — wow, that is all I can find right now!
Call me crazy, but I love my lists!
