Itemizing your ideas, plans and reminders can be useful in so many ways, here are some of the benefits of making lists to organize your life :

1. Reducing anxiety

When too much is going on in our lives, we tend to feel anxious and stressed. As a result, we struggle to properly function even on the simplest daily tasks. Thoughts may seem harmless but when you overthink them, your mind becomes cluttered and your mental health can go downhill.

If you are overwhelmed by a huge task coming up, you need to remember that you are physically capable of doing one thing at a time. By writing things down, you will be making sure that you aren’t going to forget anything which will also help you set both your mind and thoughts free and hereby reduce your anxiety.

Instead of going through a hard time remembering all that you have to do (which may not be much, however our brains have a tendency to exaggerate things when we are anxious), keeping a checklist is going to save you a lot of time and energy.

2. Increasing productivity and discipline

We all have an inward desire and dream to change but discipline is often the missing ingredient. Procrastination always gets in your way to actually get things done. However, keeping a checklist challenges you and holds you accountable for the development of your life.

A checklist allows you to get more done by being not only a safe place to write down our tasks but also by being the essence of your motivation.

When you cross something off a checklist, you experience a small amount of success and you get a dopamine rush which fuels you to repeat the actions resulting in the success. Neuroscientists refer to this as “self-directed learning.”

By using checklists, you are keeping yourself motivated to do something and to take the same actions in order to feel the same satisfaction

3. Making delegating easier

When you have a list of tasks to do, there are two important questions you should be asking yourself before crossing any item :

Does it have to be done by me? Does it have to be done today?

It becomes much easier to hand certain things over to someone else who is more concerned by the task. Having a checklist is going to make delegating a lot easier by helping you instruct someone to tackle whether one task or more from your list.

4. Reaching your goals

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Checklists are easy to create, but their impact can be huge. When you set goals for yourself, you are acknowledging your need for a plan in order to achieve them. By having a checklist, you can reach your goals quicker and accomplish what you want in life. The things done consistently add up to big things in the long run.

Your goals are much easier to achieve when you break them into small pieces that are much more attainable. Instead of aiming for a long-term goal, you start by passing milestones, one at a time. And by keeping them in a checklist, you can always go back and review your progress throughout the process.

Photo by

Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

If you are not used to checklists, the question you may be asking now is: How do I start?