The Power of Lists and Routines

I love lists.

I have lots of them. Lots and lots. Some say too many. I have a list of lists that lets me keep track of them all andknow where they are kept.

Lists are useful. Really really useful. They stop me forgetting things, they keep me organised and ensure that I do everything in the correct order. They even stop me doing things: stop me time wasting, getting bored and probably even stop me masturbating too much. They mean there is always something to do to keep me out of trouble. And it means that I get the things done that I need to do ao that I can then go out and have fun (assuming having fun is on the list).

Obviously I have a shopping list. Actually, at the moment I have four. I have my grocery list, my non-grocery list of essentials, my list of non-essentials, and my list of items which I need to buy for my current project. I have an app for those. Then, of course, I have my list of projects. ListS of projects. My current project has a task list, then all the household tasks are compiled into a list. Each of the longer-term projects is in a list as are the garden current tasks and the garden long-term tasks. Then there is the weekly task list which combines quite a few tasks from other lists to tell me what I need to do that week. Then there are my jobs lists at work. And my fun projects lists.

I really do love lists.

And there is nothing quite like crossing something off the list. You feel a sense of achievement, you know that it has been done, that YOU have done it. And better still is completing a list, getting everything crossed off so that you can start another list.

But they are all the 'future' lists. There's also the historical lists which grow continually. Places you have visited, people you know, people you have kissed, jobs you have done, tube stations where you have had sex, things you have learned. These are lists of accomplishments, more so if they are a list of the failures you have learned from.

They are also lists to help you remember, but to remember what you have done, not what you have to do. And they can be the better kind of list, the list of things that made you smile so that you can do again.

And I am very much a man of routine. A routine is essentially a recurring list of tasks. It makes sure that you perform the same tasks in the same order, day in and day out. A routine makes sure I do what I need to do every day, every week. I stops me leaving the house with no clothes on, or losing control generally. Every six months my main routine undergoes a major overhaul as I move from 'winter' mode to 'summer' mode or vice versa.

The best thing, though, is breaking the routine. It is fun, outside of the comfort zone. It may even feel naughty. Those that live a shambolic life don't get that thrill of change, that buzz of breaking the unwritten rule. But then they're probably too distracted trying to remember where they put their keys.