Monday 19th December
I used to write lists, long time ago now – and it certainly helped to focus the mind. A bit. But I often forgot the list, especially when shopping; but the fact that I had written the list, detailing the things I needed to buy meant I remembered them when I got in the shop. But don’t you find that even with a list you still sometimes miss things; and worst of all of course, buy lots of stuff that wasn’t on the list at all.
Nowadays I don’t like writing lists, I seem to remember pretty well what I have to do in my head; and the great benefit if I forget something – there isn’t that un-ticked item on the list staring accusingly out at you, you can even forget that you have forgotten…
I think that often the habit of writing a list is actually a substitute for actually doing the things that are on the list. The same as meetings where nothing is decided, nothing achieved – but smiles all round and an agreement to have another meeting next week to discuss progress (of which there won’t be any, but let’s have another meeting about it anyway). I hated having meetings at work; I knew only too well what had to be done and just got on with it. If I needed to discuss something with someone I just spoke directly with them; i didn’t need to arrange a meeting, or have a list with me.
For many people writing the list is the achievement, especially for those in Management positions; detailing work that other people have to do can be quite satisfying. Seeing all those tasks written down gives one an enormous feeling of accomplishment, especially as all the items will have to be completed by someone else; after all – someone has to supervise people. The best list-writers however go one stage further; they arrange a meeting, where they ask each attendee just what their tasks for the day/week/month will be (what is to be done, they ask, as if the thought had never struck the humble worker before). They dutifully write this all down, get it typed up and e-mail it back to the person who provided the information in the first place. This is called Management, and it is quite exhausting. Of course by the time one receives one’s list half the tasks have either been done or are now found not to be needed. But the list-writer can sit back with a massive sense of achievement having sorted everyone else’s lives out for them, and after all writing lists can be quite tiring; now they can relax – until tomorrow when another list will have to be written.