Add them to the list

Three well-known Denverites tell why they've joined the ranks of list-makers

Debra Melani, Special to the Rocky

Monday, April 9, 2007

It's 2 in the morning. You sigh, roll over, accidentally kick your spouse. Just as your sleepy mind prepares for a return trip to dreamland — boom.

Flight canceled.

It hits you: You forgot to send your mother flowers for her birthday. Instantly, your mind is frenzied becomes a frenzied hub. Work deadlines, parent-teacher conferences, unsent e-mails, Mom's wrath: no sleep for the weary.

Especially this time of year, when springtime chores and vacation plans add pages to to-do lists, focusing on checklists might be a good thing, some experts say.

"If you think it, ink it," says Laura Stack, president of the Productivity Pro Inc., an international consulting firm based in Denver. "Once it's written down, it gives your brain resolution. It no longer has to remind you to do things, because you made it tangible."

Information overload and a hunger for organization have resultedin an onslaught of checklist-focused books, stationery products and Web sites. "We have so much more coming at us with the Internet,"says Stack,author of Find More Time(Broadway, $12.95). " There's far moreinformation than we can keep track of. We're trying to use lists to keep up."

John Hickenlooper

Denver's mayor makes many lists. Streets that need plowing? Seedling types for his tree project? Those are likely subjects for a mayor's list. But Hickenlooper says his lists are mostly daily to-do's — aimed at keeping city business straight — and weekend honey-do's — aimed at keeping the home life on track.

• Types of lists: "I make lists of things to do, people to call, grocery lists. I make a list of home projects for Sunday."

• Most unusual list: "I made a list one time when I was a teenager with my grandfather of all the dogs he had owned." Hickenlooper's grandfather could use his dog history to trigger memories of major life events. "He'd say: 'Oh, what year was it when Debbie (Hickenlooper's aunt) got married? That was the year so-and-so had pups. That must have been . . .' He'd remember everything in terms of the dogs he owned that year."

• Three items on a travel list:

"According to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you always want to take a towel," Hickenlooper says. "OK, I'm not sure I'd put that one on."

1. My wife

2. My son

3. A full-capacity charge card

• Three items on a camping list:

A geologist by training, this is his kind of list, Hickenlooper says.

1. A lightweight tent

2. A lightweight sleeping bag

3. A Primus cook set (a small gas stove, pot, lid)

• Name three items generally on your daily to-do list?

"My list changes each day. I always try to call my wife and check in with the chief of staff, but each day is different."

• Life-goals list:

1. To feel like I enriched my family's life

2. To have played a role or made a contribution to the events of my time

3. I wouldn't mind being a nationally ranked squash player.

• Favorite-book list:

1. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (Simon & Schuster, $19.95), by Doris Kearns Goodwin

2. Dancing Bear (Vintage, $13), by James Crumley ("my favorite detective story")

3. One Hundred Years of Solitude (HarperCollins, $24.95), by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

• Favorite-movie list:

1. Citizen Kane

2. Tootsie ("Everyone thinks I'm crazy, but I have to put it on the list.")

3. To Have and Have Not. Work deadlines, parent-teacher conferences, unsent e-mails: no sleep for the weary.

Kathy Walsh

Ask the Channel 4 reporter and weekend news anchor to describe her older sister's lists and a note of envy resounds: gorgeous, neatly organized. She's the "queen of all lists," Walsh says. While Walsh's lists aren't as aesthetically pleasing as her sibling's, the television news anchor, wife and mother confesses to making lists "for everything." Her mother did it. Her daughters do it. "It's in the genes," she says.

• Types of lists: "I do packing lists if we are going to go away. If my kids (11 and 14) have something coming up at school and I need to bring things, I make lists." Other Walsh lists include: pros and cons, directions for the baby sitter, chores for the kids, story ideas for work.

• Why make lists: "When I don't make a list, I waste time," Walsh said, using shopping as an example. "(With no list) I kind of wander and look around. And, I'll be honest with you, to remember. The older I get, the less I remember."

• Paper or computer? "I make lists on any piece of paper I can find" — scrap paper, the backs of envelopes and school notes. "I'm sitting in the car right now and I have several different-colored sticky notes. I have a list on the back of a receipt."

• Three items on a travel list:

1. Books

2. Sunscreen

3. Crocs

•Three items on daily to-do list:

1. Touch base with baby sitter

2. Make work-related calls

3. Make personal appointments (orthodontists, etc.)

• Favorite-book list:

1. Any of the Harry Potter books (Scholastic Inc. paperback boxed set of books 1-6, $50.94), by J.K. Rowling

2. Wicked (Regan Books, $16) by Gregory Maguire

3. The Da Vinci Code (Anchor, $7.99) by Dan Brown

• Favorite-movie list:

1. The Wizard of Oz

2. The Sound of Music

3. The Princess Bride

Karl Mecklenburg

Football careers build good list-makers, says the motivational speaker and former Denver Broncos linebacker. His years of hard hits earned him a Broncos Ring of Fame spot in 2001. "When you use your head as a weapon for all those years, it's hard to keep track of things."

• Paper or computer? "Mostly Post-its. I'm not an electronics person. Somebody gave me a Palm Pilot a long time ago; it's still in the box somewhere."

• Most unusual list: "My grandmother passed away last year. She was 94. As part of the service, I got up and basically gave a list of all the things that remind me of her. It was kind of an odd list, but I really think it helped celebrate Grandmother's life."

• Top three items on a travel list:

1. Laptop

2. Vitamins

3. Dress socks (Mecklenburg confesses to having made a few speeches in a dress suit and athletic socks)

• Three items on grocery list:

1. Orange juice

2. Pepsi One (for the wife, not him, he says)

3. Chicken

• Life-goals list:

1. Build relationship with God

2. Build relationship with family

3. Inspire change in teens and individuals

• Favorite-book list:

1. Bible

2. A Sorrow in Our Heart (Domain, $7.99), by Allan Eckert (a historical work that includes a relative of Mecklenburg, raised by an Indian tribe)

3. The Heart of a Student Athlete (his own autobiography, which Mecklenburg expects to be released in a few months)

• Favorite-movie list:

1. Groundhog Day

2. Gladiator

3. The Pursuit of Happyness

Personality traits

• List-makers

Type A's

Responsibility-focused

Success-oriented (money, status)

Highly organized

Shaky self-esteem

• Non-list-makers

Type B's

Relaxed

Friend-, service-oriented

Less concerned about others' opinions

Solid self-esteem

Source: Joy Berrenberg, CU

Checking it twice

• 84 percent of Americans say they make lists.

• 45 percent of conservatives make lists, compared with 24 percent of liberals.

• 84 percent of people use old-fashioned pen and paper to make lists.

Reasons for lists

Errands 64 %

Personal life 56

Work 49

School 28

Fun 26

Other 31

Don't make lists 16

Types of lists

Shopping 87%

Task/appointment 79

Gift 58

Project 52

Event 47

Bill due dates 35

Travel 34

Password/user name 24

Goal-setting 24

Favorites movies, TV shows, etc. 18

Tools for lists

Notebook/pad/paper 84%

Calendar/Day-Timer 47

Post-its 34

Computer (Excel, etc.) 23

Small electronic device (PDA, Blackberry, etc.) 13

Web-based application/tool 7

Why make lists?

Makes me more organized 40%

Makes me feel more organized 25

Reduces stress 15

Just a habit 6

Just enjoy it 2

Survey of 1,200 U.S. adults by market-research company Zogby International, commissioned by www.gubb.net. Error of margin: 2.9 percent.

List-focused Web sites

• gubb.net

• backpackit.com

• rememberthemilk.com

• tadalist.com

• checklists.com

• printablechecklists.com

Voice-activated electronic device makes grocery lists

• What: SmartShopper

• Price: $149.99

• Available: www.smartshopperusa.com

• How it works: Push a button, say "bread" and SmartShopper records it. SmartShopper categorizes items (frozen foods, produce, etc.) and prints your list on thermal paper. It has more than 2,500 grocery items in its memory, and users can add items and brands. It also does errand lists.

• Award: the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show's Design and Engineering award