Stop, Look and LIST.

I love lists.

Not, substituting the sound “th” for the sound of “s…” that’s a “lisp,” not the 19th century composer of Hungarian rhapsodies…, that was Franz Liszt.

No, the lists I love are “lists” as in “a series of items set forth in order.”

Now at one time there was even a popular book entitled “The Book of Lists,” and of course everyone is familiar with shopping lists, guest lists, the politician’s enemies list, contractor’s punch-lists and the merchant’s price list. I love those lists too, but the lists I love most are my own personal lists of things to do, people to contact, places to go and tasks to complete, as well as dates to remember. I love those private lists, though more to the point what I really love is what such lists represent, embody and do for each of us who keep them.

As its definition implies, a list brings order to a disorderly world (and life.) To prepare a list is to collect and prioritize things, and to confirm that everything has a place lists affirm that a collection, a bunch and a group are really just a series of individuals that can (and often should and must) be separated from the pack and addressed as an individual.

Lists make certain that items (large or small) will not be overlooked or forgotten. A list directs your attention to that which you would often prefer to ignore or delay. Sure, placing an item on a list doesn’t prelude procrastination, but until it’s crossed off that list, an item lingers like a hangnail or dripping faucet or flickering bulb, crying out “attend to me, deal with me!”

Indeed, lists provide the satisfaction of completion, accomplishment, conclusion. One can measure a day’s (or week’s or year’s or life’s) progress by the number and nature of items checked off.

And that too, makes lists so cool: (at least on paper) items are neither erased nor deleted, but merely checked-off or crossed-off, so you can return and see beneath the “scratch-outs” what needed to be done and, in fact, got done. That corporeal, memorialized testament to a job if not well-done, at least done, boots your confidence to not only tackle the rest of the list, but to add new stuff, and make new lists.

Any item placed on a continuing “To Do” list is more than, you’ll excuse me, a drop in the bucket: it’s a promise of action, a recognition of responsibility, a commitment to vibrancy, a statement of involvement, a plan for the future and a pledge to take some next step.

A “To Do” list, but its very nature and existence is a declaration that there always remains much to do and that we are not yet done.

Rather than being a “To Achieve” list, a “To Advance” list and a “To Live” list.

And now that I’ve finished this week’s column, I can cross it off this week’s list and (as with so much else) immediately add it to next week’s “To Do” list.

© Copyright © 2012 Ron GoldmanRon Goldman is an attorney in private practice with offices in Cedarhurst and can be reached @ 1-800-846-9013