The list.

Well, not the Schindler one. But yours.

The brain, as marvellous as it is, has limited RAM. It’s not supposed to hold a list.

Give it 3 items to hold onto, and it will generate an infinite loop using them.

ABCBABCABCACBA… and so on.

You get the idea.

The utility of the list is not to finish everything on it, or to feel guilty when some or all of them are left.

The utility of the list is to empty the brain’s RAM.

To let it have the space to do more meaningful processing.

One of the lists that I use daily is called ‘Things on my mind’.

I take around 15-20 minutes to list down (numbered) all the things that come to my mind.

Once the list is there, and I generally have 15-35 items on the list, I go through it again one by one, writing my notes for each item.

Then I star mark the top 3 tasks that need to be focussed on.

Whenever you feel anxious or stressed, or not, take a paper and pencil and make a list.