Making Lists

By Lou Pastina
When we are young, we have aspirations. We hope to pass a test, make a team, get into a high school or college, meet “the” soul mate, and so on and so on. The aspirations aren’t really a list but taken from afar they do constitute one. As we get older, we realize we need to plan things. Stuff just doesn’t happen, well I guess for some it does, but life really does become random if you don’t have a plan. My dad liked to say, “failing to plan is planning to fail.” I always took that to heart, and so, I made lists. This served me well in my professional life, especially when I was in project management. But it has also served me well in my personal life, especially in my post-employment life.
My lists used to take the form of a calendar. I would map out where the kids needed to be and who was driving who to whatever event was happening. Nowadays, my lists are just lists of things; places I want to visit before its too late; birthdays, parties, dinners, doctors, bills to pay, friends I need to call, people I should touch base with. Every week I make at least two lists and then color highlight the things that are coming up soon. As they occur, I cross out the things that just happened. In some small way I feel like I accomplish something by doing that. Like it is keeping me on track, and I am getting things done. In reality, I am just fooling myself, all I am doing is living life. Less randomly, more planned. When something unplanned happens, I usually feel like I am living spontaneously in some trippy serendipitous way. It’s all an illusion but it’s fun!
The lists that are less fun are the ones with doctors on them. When we are young, we go to doctors, but when we get older, going to doctors is something wholly different. They rarely tell you, “Hey, you are doing great, keep doing what you are doing.” It’s more likely, later in life, that they tell you that it’s time to go on some medication, or its time for that hip replacement, or hearing aid. My dad had a calendar just for doctor visits. I have to say there might be something to that, because he made it to 93 with a pretty good quality of life. I haven’t gotten to the separate calendar yet. He also had a calendar which marked when people important to him passed. You never wanted to be on that calendar. Again, I haven’t gotten to that point yet. I am sticking with my weekly lists.
I also have a rule about the list. It can’t be more than a page and usually can’t include anything more than two months out. This way the chance of me crossing something out each week increases, and so does my sense of accomplishment. Seems small I know, but it seems to make a difference. My mom was great for always planning the next vacation after the last one. I never realized the importance of this until later in life. You need something on the horizon to look forward to. Something that will make your heart grow, your mind be curious, and your soul ready to search. I think that’s why lists and aspirations are so closely tied together. Not that the doctor’s visit on the list is an aspiration, but the fact that you want to live longer, healthier, and more fulfilled is.
So, my recommendation this holiday season is this: start making lists. Make them for each week, make them for the next year, the next five years, the next ten years. Your lists become your goals, your aspirations, and the realization of your intentions! List on!!