Let's Talk About Lists

All of my favourite articles are top ten articles. I think that the best and most gripping kind of literature is listed..

I LOVE lists. I have lists of stuff to do at work, chores I need to do, Lego sets I own and want, I did have a list of every band I've seen live (good and bad) but I've misplaced it!

I love lists. The problem for me is, I'm not always realistic about how many things I can actually get done in a particular amount of time. I'm better at it since realising that I need to break everything down into much smaller list items than neurotypical people do, because the page fills up after about three tasks, but I'm still optimising my list efficiency. Maybe I need a list for that as well!

Yes, I can relate to that Ann. I, too, get absorbed in something and find it very hard to stop that in order to start whatever is next on my calendar. That's why I end up moving stuff around.

I name all sorts of things, always have. So scarves for instance: Jason and Emma, pens: Lucretia and Sylvia, my Apple computers always have names though they’ve not always been particularly imaginative : eg Eve, though Sarah Penguin was a fave. My cats names are sometimes imaginative (if I give them them) but not always as if rescued with an established name I retain it, even when so often as is dull. And I chose my own name too, how about that for empowering! both first and family, fab 

I love that your lists have creative names- mine tend to be called boring things like To do list March 2023 etc

Revision calendars never worked for me- i would start with my favourite topic usually and then just get super absorbed in lots of random details- For me it was impossible to spend a set amount of time on a topic, i just couldn’t predict how long it would take for me to make sense of things and connect it all together. I can also only study one subject/ topic at time. Luckily my university somewhat encouraged following random interests and details and the questions were open enough for me to do ok with this strategy 

I like lists- it helps with my executive function issues and it also helps feel more in control of everything that needs to happen if it is all written down

I too have lists for everything, I give them interesting (well to me anyway) names, there was the “January Big List”, and I’m currently tackling the “”March Tricky List”. These two were/are big structural and difficult, expensive in £s January, and emotion March. I usually have a daily list running too, chores etc. I actually do succeed in ticking things off and if I don’t before they time out the item cascades onto the next one. If I do something which wasn’t on a list I actually add it to one and tick it. This is all done on gmail drafts, I’m 100% digital, have been for years and can no longer drive a pen. 

When I was a student, I gave up on revision timetables. I love filling in my work calendar with lovely coloured boxes for all the things I plan to do, then I spend the rest of the week moving things around because it all went to pot by Monday lunchtime. At least my bosses think I'm busy 

I totally understand this!!! I love making lists so much and it feels even better to tick them off but that rarely happens

I can't offer any help as I haven't worked out how to actually do what's on a list. Hopefully someone knows

P.S. I have exams in a couple of months and spent about 4 hours making a revision timetable (I haven't yet done anything on it, but hey it looks pretty and kept me busy for a while)

Alisha xx