TIME-SAVING TIPS

Making lists is relaxing. It makes you feel important – all those things to do. It calms you down (it’s OK, it’s on a list somewhere) and it makes you feel good when you cross something off.

The world divides into two types of list-makers. Type A makes orderly lists, prioritises and calmly sets to work on them. Type В waits until panic sets in, grabs the nearest envelope and scribbles all over it, sighs with relief and promptly loses it.

The more you have to do, the more you need a list, and few people with high-powered jobs get by without them.

Julie Rost, chief executive of a large chain of supermarkets, says, “Before I go to bed, I have to write down everything that’s going to stop me sleeping. If I write something down, I feel I won’t forget it, so my lists are a great comfort.”

Jane Levy used to write Lists, but she would forget where she put them and then waste precious time looking for them. Then a couple of years ago she came up with a new system. Now she writes key words on the back of her hand! “At least I can’t lose it,’ she says. True, but too many trips to the bathroom could have disastrous results.

Des O’Brien, a self-employed business consultant, uses another method for organising his time. He writes a list of things to do and then organises them into categories: things that have to be done straight away; other things that it would be good to do today; things that are important but don’t have to be done immediately; and things that he can put off but that he doesn’t want to forget. “Using categories to order the world is the way the human mind works,” he says.

It’s all a question of what works best for you, whether it’s a tidy notebook, a forest of Post-it^® notes or the back of your hand. Having tried all these, Kerry Johns, student, relies on her personal organiser. “My personal organiser has changed my life,” she says. “Up to now, I’ve always relied on my good memory, but now that I’m working and studying, I find I’ve got too much to keep in my head.”

So what are you waiting for? There’s no better time than the present to take control of your work and life. So, get out your pencil and paper and make a list.

Sue Kay & Vaughan Jones, New Inside Out, Macmillan