List of Reasons We Love Lists

Checklists are fabulous things. We all know a Checklist Charlie, someone who just can’t navigate life without a list for every occasion.
Lists are often full of good ideas. In a matter of minutes, a reader can run down a list of ten ideas, discarding nine, but keeping the one idea that might answer a nagging question, meet a need, solve a problem, restructure a business, rejuvenate a relationship, change a life
Everyone loves a checklist, as long as it is not a to-do list; to-do lists can be a little overwhelming. All other lists qualify as lots of fun.
As we get older, we learn that a list can even replace essential functions like our memory, for example. That is, if you can find someone to remind you where you left your list.
With a list you can actually leave the grocery store with the thing you went shopping for in the first place.
A list can give you the ABC’s of any subject. This season, “A” stands for affordable, as in “39 Hot Tips for Affordable Trips” (Caribbean Travel & Life, May 2007), “B” stands for bars, as in “The Best Bars in America” (Esquire, June 2007), and “C” stands for cars, as in “The Best and Worst 2007 Cars (Consumer Reports, April 2007).
The Wall Street Journal offers a list of the day’s news on their front page under the heading “What’s News-”, but of course, we prefer our news local and in-depth.
For the outdoorsman, there is a list for every interest, including “150 Best Fishing Spots” (Field and Stream, June 2007) and “Top 50 New Products for Deer Hunting” (Deer & Deer Hunting, June 2007). Isn’t deer season still three months away?
For those who think outdoors means sunshine and sand, this month’s cover of Texas Monthly offers “The Best Beaches in Texas.” There are “100+ Swimsuits” in Seventeen (June 2007). Fortunately, Good Housekeeping offers “5 Ways to Reduce Stress and Fatigue” which you will probably need if you decide to go swimsuit shopping.
Then there is the list that they printed in Cosmopolitan, June 2007, “75 Sex Tricks” with the cutline, “Warning: They’re so Hot, This Magazine May Burst Into Flames.” Obviously, that is a list that is way too racy to print in a small town newspaper, for heaven’s sake.
There are tips for businesses, brides and even bum steers.
Yes, lists are good things. In fact, as much as we hate them, even to-do lists have their place, since there’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of marking off the last item of a to-do list.
So, if you find that you are also a “Checklist Charlie,” you’ll want to check here again soon for the upcoming “Father’s Day List.”

Cathy Primer Krafve, aka Checklist Charlie, lives in Flint, Texas with her family. She refuses to admit she is forgetful, but prefers to think of herself as list-prepared.