Creating lists also adds the element of focus. As I add to "ideal life", I write down objects that I want included in my future. The list includes words like "London", "journalist" and "travel."
1. Lists get right to the point. No fluffy preambles are necessary.
For notes related to books I'm writing, I've wondered whether I should organize my notes better, but I do find that the action or scrolling through them and seeing odd juxtapositions of ideas helps to stimulate my own ideas and creativity.
I was enchanted to see Phil Patton's piece in the New York Times on "Our Longing for Lists." The piece was illustrated with the image of Johnny Cash's to-do list (which, by the way, reportedly sold at auction in December 2010 for $6,250).
This spring I had an epiphany about the mixed feelings I was having about where I live. I knew that deep down there were absolutely things I loved about where I lived, I just was in a funk and needed reminding. So I made a list.
"We are failing because of inability to meet the basics," Dr. Atul Gawande told Stephen Colbert on "The Colbert Report" last night. Dr. Gawande's ne...
