The art of using lists and notebooks

Pablo Picasso, Adolf Konrad, Oscar Bluemner - the list of history’s greatest listers goes on. Whilst some suggest that making lists is nothing more than a futile attempt to order the unaddressed chaos that is life as we know it, many others swear by them as a way to organise and control our increasingly busy lives. Whether you prefer to make your lists in a notebook or on a handy A6 notepad like this one lists can help us all to accomplish a myriad of tasks. From the big projects that need to be broken down into smaller tasks, to the small things that keep life in order, there is a list for everything.

Psychologists have studied those who make lists and it turns out that there is more behind our desire to write lists than simply trying out all of our new shiny pens (although there is nothing wrong with writing anything for that purpose as far as we are concerned) and concluded that making lists helps us to overcome feelings of overwhelm and saturation when it comes to facing big tasks. There is something altogether comforting about breaking down something dauntingly large into smaller, more manageable chunks - kind of like when you’re faced with a jumbo chocolate bar and fitting it into your mouth whole would be challenging...well, kind of. What is more, research shows that those of us with the propensity to need to control everything in our lives find lists a good way to create a sense of calm and to give us the feeling (illusion) that we are indeed in control of our workflow, shopping list and destiny.

Lists also offer a nice healthy dose of nostalgia when you stumble across an old notebook or scribble pad. They can act as a sort of photo album of all the stages of your life. Looking at past lists will remind you of all the good habits you planned to keep as well as all of the things you have achieved.

Start today by making a list of all the lists you’re going to start making in one of our beautiful personalised notebooks.