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Why are lists fascinating?
Posted at: Aug/27/2012 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: People, Perspectives,
Have you ever wondered why we are so fascinated by lists of things? We love those lists that countdown to “number one.” David Letterman has his daily list of top ten something’s. Television’s Animal Planet always does well with its list based programs; ten weirdest animals, ten most unique insect relationships, etc. Time magazine list of “The world’s Top 100 Most Influential People” is always a big seller. On a personal basis, there is the grocery list and the “to-do list”. I have not yet reached the point of writing a “bucket list”, but a great deal of my personal productivity is driven by my daily to-do or action list. Lists, by definition give us some sense of order or structure in our lives and our day-to-day activities. For people focused on personal accomplishment and time management, lists are an extremely common tool to help keep a steady course through their day and aid general time management. Many of the authors of self-help books including Jack Collis and Michael Leboeuf preach the virtue of setting goals and using lists to manage your time. There is no doubt that a list of to-do items is a great way to prioritize your time. That same list often also serves as a reminder of things yet to be done. When your boss gives you three things to get done, regardless of how well you did the first two, if you forgot the third…you’re in trouble. We have all used grocery lists; these are excellent tools for remembering what counts and staying focused on the original target. Without the grocery list we are likely to come home with impulse items we did not budget for and still forget the gallon of milk everyone is waiting on. That second trip to the store is clearly the punishment for not using a list to stay focused. Crossing things off that grocery list or other list can also become a very satisfying measure of success and good time management. It seems only right I share my list of the benefits of lists: • Lists allow us to simplify complex information • Lists aid in our retention of unrelated information • Lists help us organize our lives • Lists help us not overlook important goals • Lists help us prioritize our time and our goals • Lists give us sense of accomplishment as things are crossed off • Lists can be used as motivational tools • Lists can be entertaining as they organize content leading to a crescendo Lists appeal to our natural desire to see a competitive priority or advantage. Five reasons why you like bananas more than oranges, organizing your favorite movies in a specific order; these appeal to that competitive desire for a hierarchy to the best of something. Ranking sports teams and determining the best quarterbacks of all time focus on our desire to know or recognize the most or the best. In case you can’t tell, I enjoy and use lists to manage my expectations and ensure some degree of success on a daily and weekly basis. Crossing things off my lists at work is part of what I look forward to. Nevertheless, we need to be cautious about not overvaluing lists as they lack in detailed substance. Lists tend to be the “Cliff Notes” of contemporary writing. I don’t know if Cliff Notes are common anymore. Before the internet and Wikipedia, students often used Cliff Notes as a way to expeditiously absorb entire novels. Cliff Notes would provide all the key events and plots twists in a very concise manner, but when you needed to speak about a characters introspection or soliloquy you were unprepared for class: Woops, that A just became a C-. Sergeant Friday (old television detective) used to often begin a scene interviewing a witness with the line “just the facts ma’am, just the facts.” In a similar way lists lack a lot of the detail that helps to explain the situation in context. Unfortunately, for many of us it is easy to start looking at only the short answer and ignoring the more substantive response. Effectively, lists take a lot less energy to dissect and understand and that is appealing in our busy lives. Lists are not new, examples of lists can be found in Homer’s “The Iliad”, works by Dante and in the Bible to name a few. Unfortunately, in our modern sound bite, rapid fire era, lists seem to be replacing good speeches and quality writing as an accepted form of communication. In a well written essay, good ideas or thoughts are carefully woven together with a literary object called a transition. Additionally, each idea or notion is supported with related content and background information making up a specific paragraph. These paragraphs generally inspire thought along with supporting the thesis idea. Writing a paragraph is not easy, forming supporting thoughts and avoiding dead ends can be difficult. When you’re writing a real essay, there is always the chance you’ll hit a dead end. A real essay is a train of thought, and some trains of thought just peter out despite the author’s best efforts. This could be the result of pursuing a path you find you can’t support, this could come from a lack of focus, or this could be a case of becoming stymied. If you are preparing to give a talk, this can be an alarming possibility. What do you do if you run out of ideas? The compartmentalized structure of the list protects the writer from their own roadblocks or stupidity in much the same way it protects the reader. If you are having trouble supporting a specific point…no problem. Since it is one of many, simply remove it from the essay or speech and no one will know the difference. Clearly, writing a list is easier and less stressful than a conventional essay. There is very little structure required and it is easy to add additional points as you think of them. Since a list does not need supporting content or a conclusion it can be very satisfying to write. For all the same reasons, the reader can find lists very comforting to peruse. There is little need to turn your brain on or seek that second cup of coffee. Without supporting content and arguments, there is very little to digest and interpret. Fundamentally, reading a list is easy. If you are taking up writing, the list can actually be a good tool to start with. If you have three key points on a certain subject you have a short list. Turn each point of your list into a paragraph with subordinate content and ideas, and then add an introduction and conclusion; now you have a short list masquerading as the classic high school five-paragraph essay. This is actually not a bad methodology for the beginning writer. With practice this can be developed on and expanded; obviously noting that writing need not be so structured as to have to have an idea in every paragraph. The challenge is to ensure we don’t start preferring lists over essays. Lists tend to be like cheeseburgers; almost anyone can make a good cheeseburger. Searching out a quality “Beef Wellington” requires expanding your palette and being prepared for some disappointment. In a similar way, almost anyone can assemble a good list, but good writing is a skill that not many actually have. For the chef, a good Beef Wellington is not always the result despite their best efforts. For the writer, sometimes an essay goes nowhere despite all your best efforts, but that is the risk with attempting something more complicated. Maybe it is just me and the generation that I am part of, I have never really adopted the notion of sound bites and lists as a way to communicate. I confess, I use lists a lot, but that doesn’t make me a hypocrite. I limit my use of lists to personal organization and time management. I enjoy reading, especially when the author has found a way to challenge how I think about something without offending me. These challenges almost always come with complex thoughts and their supporting notions assembled into some kind of column, essay or novel. While lists are growing in popularity as a communication tool, they lack the glue and substance to really defend each point; instead, you are expected to accept each list item verbatim without a supporting foundation. In a similar way, lists are becoming a common oral communications tool as well. Beyond David Letterman, news anchors, and politicians have begun using the presentation of lists as a form of communication. Clearly, lists have become an accepted way to communicate that was not near as prevalent a mere 20 years ago. My fear ultimately is that we will forget how to write and speak in favor of just sharing lists. I unfortunately know far too many people who would prefer not to turn their brains on. Reading or listening to a list is a very simplistic way to absorb information without context or a supporting foundation. Writing and speaking with real substance is not easy, but the end result is a much better formed statement or argument. If we are transitioning away from supported thoughts to merely sharing lists, we are choosing the easy way to communicate rather than the better way to communicate. It would be a shame because while lists are a great organizational tool, they are a marginal way to share an idea. Nevertheless, lists seem to be here to say…now it is just a matter of how dominate they become as a way to speak or write. If lists are the communication tool of the future, should we start calling the current generation of young adults the PowerPoint generation? Don’t settle for always eating cheeseburgers when you eat out. Good writing and speaking can be spectacular, but some of the things you sample along the way may need to be sent back to the kitchen.
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