How To Use Lists To Stay Organized

As a writer, it’s very important for me to keep all the chaos in my brain in order. I can become very forgetful if there’s too much to remember, so I keep a lot of lists. In fact, there are four types of lists that I keep that are of great benefit to me in my daily, monthly, and even yearly routine. My lists will certainly vary from the non-writers that read this post, but keeping lists is beneficial to people in all areas! Here’s how mine are organized:

The White Board List

In my home office, I keep a white board list. The main purpose of this list is to write down everything that needs to be accomplished this year. Some of it is related to my writing, but a lot of it is just things like “flu shot” and “taxes” that I will likely forget if I don’t have a place that reminds me, “Hey, remember you have to do this thing!” It’s incredibly satisfying to cross items off this list as the year progresses, and then I’m able to look back and see everything I’ve accomplished, which is a very welcome morale boost when I’m feeling like I’ve accomplished nothing. I also have a list on this white board of good habits I’m trying to develop, such as “exercise” and “violin practice”.

The Planner List

I love buying cute planners with stickers and motivational quotes inside. My middle school self would be very envious. Each year I buy a new planner and use it to keep track of my daily tasks. A lot of these tasks are simply chores, but sometimes I have to remind myself to send out my newsletter or write a blog post (just like this one!). It’s also pretty handy in reminding me when my hair and dentist appointments are. Some people may opt to use their phone rather than a planner for these sort of lists, which is also an acceptable way to do it.

The Hyperlink List

This is the kind of list that my self-publishing friends may have their own form of, but can certainly be adapted to other areas of interest. Because I am very new to self-publishing, there is a lot of things I’m having to learn. I ended up making a list in a Word document on my computer using bullet points and hyperlinks to organize all the online resources that have been informative to me. For example, one section of the list is for marketing, and within this section I have a bulleted list of marketing techniques and hyperlinks to websites that elaborate further on these strategies. This list will also become useful later as I learn what works and what doesn’t work, allowing me to adjust it as my knowledge grows.

The Brainstorming List

Another Word document list, but an entirely different type of creature than the hyperlink list. Writing books can be hard, and trying to remember all the twists and turns of your future stories can be overwhelming to keep track of. Fortunately, I have several brainstorming lists that I’m able to jot my ideas on so that I don’t forget those ideas later. I have lists of characters, lists of places, lists of chapter outlines, lists of major plot points…anything and everything related to the brainstorming process can be found in these lists. Once I start writing my books, these lists act as a useful guide throughout the process.

If you don’t keep lists already, and you feel like you can’t keep track of all the madness in your life, try out a few of these list suggestions! If you do keep lists, how similar are they to mine? Are there other types of lists that I did not mention? Let me know in the comments!