How to Know You’re an Obsessive List Maker
For the whole summer, everyone is daydreaming about jetting off for a beach getaway. I bet very few of you dream of staying near home for your vacation, but don’t sell it short! In hindsight, it’s easy to overlook all the bad parts of a taking a trip – the delayed flights, missed connections and lost luggage.
When I was in Paris this summer — there were reports that Madonna was staying at the Ritz Carlton hotel. So me, my friends and hubby did what any sensible traveler would do — we stood in the rain outside the hotel hoping to get a glimpse. That never happened. Oh well — thanks to my hubby Jay I will be going to see her perform live tonight at Yankee Stadium! Yay!
Madonna Makes Lists
But the real reason for this post — is that Madonna is just like you and me — she’s a list maker! Yep — it’s true. There have been several reports of her listing away in her limo while trekking off to events and concerts.
There’s even this to-do list that I found on my new favorite site “Lists of Note” — check it out — it’s a list she wrote in the 1990s:
Speaking from experience – I’d say most journalists are pretty productive. We have deadlines to keep and strong personalities to deal with – so it’s kind of inevitable. However – my profession didn’t top the list of the most productive. Actually – if you’re a farmer or work in the agriculture area – you win the prize.
WHO?
LinkedIn did a survey of more than 6500 people throughout the world and found that 63% of all professionals frequently create to-do lists. Some 83% of farmers (and the like) said they regularly fulfill most or all of their planned tasks. Lawyers fell to the bottom of the list – with just 66 percent accomplishing all or most of their tasks.
Women were the biggest list makers in the study with 71% saying they used them regularly. Only 60% of men did the same. That doesn’t surprise me – ladies tend to have their stuff together more of the time too! ☺
WHERE?
Turns out 50% of list makers do it by hand, while 45% keep their to-dos electronically. The other 5% do a bunch of different things like use whiteboards, chalkboards or keep their lists in their minds.
How about you? What’s your industry and where do you make your lists?
One of the things on my to-do list is to write back to readers who e-mail me list-making questions. It’s actually one of my favorite things to do. I recently got an email from Josh and I thought his questions were ones that other people might have as well. Here goes:
I do enjoy making lists and find them helpful. However, one thing that I get stuck with is how to set up my list and how many to make/where to keep them. Do you just use one notebook for all lists? Do you color code? I often find that I get stumped with this step. I want my lists to look presentable and not just write stuff any and everywhere. How do you set yours up? Read more