• The refrigerator grocery list.
• The lists sent home from school.
• The chore list.
• The ‘Honey Do’ list.
• The packing list.
• Listicles.
• The task list.
• The ‘to do’ list.

We fill our lives with lists. Why? What do these lists accomplish? Or do they not accomplish anything at all? As it turns out, there are two sides to this list of questions about lists.

In Defense of the List

There’s a solid scientific reason why ‘to-do’ lists are popular. That reason is called ‘dopamine.’ Dopamine is directly connected to feelings of motivation and pleasure. When you complete a task or cross various tasks off of a list, your brain goes dopamine-crazy. It’s addictive. It’s also the main reason why so many of us create task lists.

Even if you switch from paper to an app like Evernote, you’ll still get that dopamine hit. The medium doesn’t really matter. Your brain will be happy either way (granted, there are more distractions when using your smartphone to take notes). But are lists just another form of procrastination? Do they breed more distraction than not?

Let’s take a look at why lists might be counterproductive.

Letting Go of the List

It can be argued that the process of constructing a list is little more than a distraction. A way to avoid doing anything. The skirting around of accomplishment. Basic lists don’t usually come with timelines. They don’t come with priorities. They exist as reminders. As ways to offload thoughts onto a piece of paper so we don’t forget. The biggest problem with lists is that we tend to make them too long, too complex, and utterly unachievable.

When we can’t achieve, we lose motivation. So why not just cross of and accomplish all of the small tasks on a list? The ones we know we can accomplish? The problem with this method is that those small things might not be prioritized properly. We tend to complete the tasks we know we can achieve painlessly first.

That leaves all of the bigger tasks for later. If we keep adding small tasks to the list, we never really do tackle those bigger tasks. This is a vicious cycle that can lead to feelings of defeat. So what is the best course of action? To create a list or not to create a list?

The Mindful Conclusion

You can make a list of tasks and feel good about it. The trick is not to make a list that’s too long. Keep your list focused on no more than three items. Make sure those items are not only small tasks that will reward your brain with the dopamine it craves, but also some larger tasks that really matter.

Some people often tackle the biggest item on the list first (which will give you a lot more satisfaction after completion, by the way!). Don’t get caught up in complex lists. Choose a few items, write them down, and get to work on one item at a time. This is the formula for lists that work. Or, you might say, this is the mindful way to build an effective and productive list.