Lists

Earlier this week, we talked about how in The Great Gatsby, young Gatsby creates a list that says his goals and schedule in order to achieve them. After talking about this, our class talked about the purposes of using lists to accomplish something. After polling the class, less than half of the class said that they use lists frequently.

I am one of the people who uses lists. I use these lists for a number of reasons. One reason is that it gives a path for me to follow in achieving my goals. For example, a list gives a set order to do things, something that I find helpful. Another reason that I use lists to track my progress is that "crossing off" an item on my list gives a great sense of success and achievement. The process of eliminating goals from your list makes you feel better about yourself. Lastly, writing lists makes sure that your goals become concrete and set, not loose ideas that are floating around in your head. This is vital because it makes sure that you work to try to achieve your goals.

A separate entity is a bucket list. I consider this to be completely different because it is a loose organization of things that you want to get done; it does not have a process involved. Let me ask you: Do you use lists and why do you use them?