Brain Food #527

Make a list

Thoughts of the day

Modern-day work is, seemingly, endless. It is a well-documented fact that having pressing tasks to do can overwhelm the human brain and our capacity to think freely, which in turn can lead to anxiety, which can lead to a lack of productivity, the combination forming an all-too-familiar vicious circle.

Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik discovered what is now known as the “Zeigarnik effect”, which suggests that we remember things we need to do better than things we have already finished.

If one is never done with their tasks for the day, and if the Zeigarnik effect is true, how can one revel in what they have already achieved, when there is still so much left to be done?

The trick may be found in the mighty list. If life is, by default, chaotic, then lists can provide some much-needed structure, a sense of control over our time, but also a reminder of what we have managed to complete. Beyond clarifying tasks, and what we are yet to do, lists can also be implemented more creatively, reminding us of places we have been, books we have read, things we like, and providing an avenue towards crystallising our very thoughts.

It is also why so many lists by some of the world’s greatest minds have been preserved to this day. Here are a few you might enjoy, and, if something is on your mind, write it down.

A list by John Lennon. My favourite is 8, “Put BACK SEANS LARGE MATTRESS (TODAY)”. Sean is John Lennon’s and Yoko Ono’s son. Even John Lennon could not escape from mundane chores that come with family life. The list was sold in an auction for more than $16,000

Joan Didion’s packing list — well thought-out, but one that removes thinking from a future moment “The list enabled me to pack, without thinking, for any piece I was likely to do.”

Thomas Edison’s to-do list, which in truth was a list of potential inventions, in simpler terms, a list of ideas, which can also be fleeting unless captured

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