I began this journey with the intention of changing my relationship with lists. I love lists, and don't want to abandon them altogether. On the other hand, I don't want them to drive my life to the exclusion of spontaneous inspiration and the fluid changing of priorities as opportunities evolve. I don't want to use them to reinforce the drive for control as I strive to hold plans and projects with a lighter touch.
Lists serve a variety of purposes. At a basic level, they are an important adjunct to memory. Especially as short-term recall declines with age, I rely on lists to prevent running out of cat food or toilet paper. They track the promises I have made to others. They kick in when three or more things absolutely must be done today. Lists of this kind are critical, and I am not phasing them out anytime soon.
On a second level are the lists I use to support personal growth. They guide and record my food choices, outline and document my exercise program and monitor progress on other behavioral goals. I am negotiating my relationship with lists like these. They can be helpful, but they can also be counter-productive when my inner teenager protests, "Too much! Not going to do that anymore."
The third level of list-making has outworn its welcome and is on the way out. That level includes the detailed script of things to do and when to do them. I have idealized those "action plans" because they seem to maximize productive output. It feels good to check things off the list when they are done. They give me someplace to begin after breakfast every day. However, those lists don't feel as helpful as they did in the past. .
I am now more likely to produce with a looser approach. My new "fourth-level list" sets broad goals and generates a menu of opportunities to consider in the moment of choice. This is a retirement-friendly list, acknowledging that many goals are flexible and self-imposed. I do not need to reconstruct the paid-for-work environment complete with performance measures and hard deadlines.
Finally, the fifth-level list is my favorite. It is the brainstormed list, and it may well take the free form of a pictorial "mind map" instead of a linear structure with straight columns on lined paper. The brainstormed list is creative and open-ended. The items that appear may have a wide range of value and practicality. They may work best when combined or split into alternative forms. I may do them or I may not. I will rely on the Spirit to move them to level four if and when the time is ripe.
Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson made another kind, the "bucket list" famous with their 2007 movie by the same name. As I approached my 70th year, I began to talk about a bucket list. Then I stopped and thought again. Their bucket was not a container for all the fun and juicy adventures they collected. It was the object they expected to kick when they died. I do not plan to die in the coming year, and my list has nothing to do with that kind of deadline. Let's not call it that any more.
After looking over the levels of lists and my fondness for each, I have come up with a preliminary blend of Levels 4 and 5 for the coming year. My list is broad and flexible. It began last week with a vision of success for launching a new decade. I have begun to add details, possible activities that contribute to each of that vision's broad themes. Some are more practical, others less so. Some are likely, others not. That doesn't matter at this stage in the game. I am constructing the board and experimenting with pieces. There are no rules.
Overcome fear
- ...of ignorance & the generation gap: take a college class
- ...of skills gaps & awkwardness: join a drumming circle
- ...of back pain & other "weak links": take a backpacking trip, climb a peak
- ...of structured and scripted travel: Take an Alaskan running cruise
- ...of unstructured, unscripted travel: Take an Alaskan ferry trip
- ...of dealing with dying: Volunteer for Hospice
- ...of drowning: try whitewater rafting
Expand the comfort zone
- Stay up late once in awhile
- Get a tattoo
- Eat unfamiliar foods
- Listen to unfamiliar music styles.
- Join a book club to read and discuss books outside my norm
- Train for a full marathon
