Making lists is relaxing. It shows the shape of the immediate future; it calms you down and it makes you feel good when you cross something off. List-making is standard practice in treatment for     1    . It might even help you to get things done too. The more you have to do, the more you need a list and few people with high-powered jobs get by without them. Women always think they’re better at     2     than men. Men tend to have Tasks which they assemble into Action Plans while women just have lists of Things To Do.

James Oliver, psychologist, has created his own “time management matrix (矩阵)”. He writes a list of things to do and then organizes them into     3    : things that have to be done     4     away; other things that it would be good to do today; things that are important but haven’t got to be done immediately and things that are less     5    , but that he doesn’t want to forget. “Using categories to order, the world is the way the human mind works,” he says. “After that, you should divide things into levels of importance.” But he also warns, “If people get too     6     in making lists, it doesn’t work. They have too many categories and lose their     7     to decide which is the most important.” It’s all a question of what works best for you, whether it’s a tidy notebook, a packet of Post-it notes or the back of your hand. Having tried all these, student Kate Rollins relies on a computerized list, which is printed out each morning. “My     8     organizer has changed my life,” she says. “Up to now, I’ve always relied on my good memory, but now that I’m working and studying, I find I’ve got too much to keep in my head.”

So what are you waiting for? No, you are not too busy to make today the first day of your     9     time-managed life. In fact, there’s no better time than the present to begin to take increased     10     of your work and life. So, get out your pencil and pen and make a list.