Making lists to organise yourself..

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I'm a complete mess in general. I counter this by making lists of things to do, to organise myself, this works, but lately the TODO lists have been wearing me down. It feels like my life is a continuious chore. I think I feel like I want a bit of freedom and break free.

But when I make lists and do what is on the lists I feel good because I am organised myself and have given myself more control, but then again the lists never end.

I think this has been bothering me lately.

What do and how do other people feel about lists?...

You should make time for a long break if you can.
I make lists too, more of a mental to-do list, but I do give myself time to just do whatever - usually watching tv or playing fetch with the dog. Or I'll just sit outside and be alone with my thoughts.

I write my list on my hand. That way it can't get too long or complicated, and I have to do the things on it before they wash off, LOL. It's been working well for me.

I make lists in my head. I rarely do it on paper.

The rough part of making lists is keeping track of the damn things after they're written.

My latest toy is a Nokia E71 which has a nice little list-maker on it (Projekt, in case you're interested). It's always with me (well, almost always. I lose the little sucker from time to time), and I can get to the most recent list with a couple of taps at its keyboard. But still, there wind up being too many different lists to keep track of.

Then you'll need a Master List to keep track of the list! << just kidding! Lab Pet is a list maker too.

pensieve: I could do that too! Just lost inside my own mind. Hence, THE list. I like order so a list works. Just feel better if I'm listed....I hate that chaotic feeling.

I'm going to get myself a big whiteboard to put up on the wall so I can keep task lists pinned nearby where I'm likely to see it regularly when I'm working things out. I tend to use mental whiteboards but I have to actually pull a whiteboard out of the stacks to see what is on it so it doesn't work real well to put things i need to remember on something i don't remember to look at. I'm trying to get better at using a notebook as well but I feel having a physical whiteboard up on the wall will help it represent a kind of headquarters to me where important duties of the day will always be in the same spot that I am likely to find reasons to be at throughout the day. I love whiteboards and multiple colors of dry erase markers for everything.

Always have made lists. I like to think I'm pretty organized, but the truth is that I can be redirected by a bright shiny object during the day and forget to water my vegetable garden during a heat wave, so I have found that having a priority list for the day is a good thing. At the end of the day I feel a sense of accomplishment when I look at those crossed-off items. I guess some people might say that I'm "not spontaneous", but they are the ones with the dead vegetable gardens. I don't feel tyrannized by my list. If an opportunity comes up, I'll transfer something to tomorrow's list. I guess it has never bothered me that I have to do this. Some people my age have to do these lists because of age-related memory problems and I bet they're pretty resentful, if they never have done it before.

Lists help me if I don't lose them. I live in small bits of paper world.

My lists free me from chaos. My only problem is remembering to look at the lists. I would like to put them on coloured sticky notes all over the house but my husband thinks that looks a bit mad. I don't think it's mad at all. I was a bit surprised to see that insisting on routines is regarded as a symptom of Aspergers - I'm sure it's normal and in fact totally sensible to use lists and routines. It's worth checking out Flylady on the web. She is all about getting your life in order by using lists and routines.

Yep, I do the lists because my memory ain't so good. It also helps to lay things out in a clear order so that you can get the timing right, that way you know that if you leave the apartment at 09:30 for the gym you'll finish your workout in time to see the movie.

Vanilla_Slice

My problem is that I often confuse writing the tasks down on paper with actually DOing them...i make massive lists though....it is one thing I can actually do...

I have trouble sticking to routines, so I've been trying to make lists to keep focused.
It doesn't always work though.

At the moment I've got a word document open on the computer with a list of chores to get done today. Then I can just pick something off the list (doesn't have to be in order, because there are things I'm trying to avoid ). Change font to red for the one I'm supposed to focus on. Change it to green when it's done. I like being able to see that I've achieved things. If things don't get done then I just delete the list and make a new one next time. I try to keep it realistic, but I rarely finish everything.

I tried getting a notebook with pages for different things (things to do today, uni stuff, house cleaning, bills to pay, etc). Anything that needed doing got put on a post-it and stuck to the right page. That way I could update or prioritise lists easily. It doesn't really work because I don't check it often enough, but it's good for longer term goals.

Keeping things in my head doesn't work. My brain gets full and I can't focus.

For the most part I rely on mental lists. I do maintain a very general list of projects I have to complete at work and I tell my supervisors and co-workers that if they need me to do something to e-mail it to me. The one thing that has helped me the most, though, is putting the due dates for my bills on my Outlook calendar (it's the only thing I use Outlook for on my home computer). It's been a lifesaver many times when I work out my budget. Of course, the important thing is to actually enter a bill on the calendar, like the credit card bill I forgot to enter last month so now I owe last month's bill, this month's bill, and the late fee.

I have to have lists. outlook for appointments. I never take cards from the dentist, etc. appointments go straight into my ipod and I synch everything and check my schedule every day so I know what I have to keep track of during the day. before I got the ipod I kept forgetting to go where I was supposed to. grocery list on paper kinda sucks, I need an ipod app for grocery shopping. my desk is covered with post-its with conversation notes from phone calls from the last year. amazingly, I can find the notes from conversations even though they migrate around my desk. post-it pad doubles as a coaster.

I've tried a few times to make really detailed written list.
But then i just end up ignoring it completely.