The list idea worked very well for me last year when I got a cat.

She was an adoption from a former neighbour who died. The relevance is that I'm asthmatic and generally allergic to cats.

Up till then my house cleaning was haphazard and very grudging. My doctor told me I ought to find another home for the cat before I became too attached, but after a few days it was already too late.

I thought if I could only impose a rigorous cleaning routine, plus a few extras like an air filter, I might be okay. So I drew up a list of "must do" items like clean the air filter and do the vacuuming and dusting.

It worked better than I expected. Having a very limited number of things was far less intimidating than the idea of cleaning "the whole house and everything in it", and ticking off the items was quite satisfying. Eventually I added items, keeping some as optional and making some mandatory.

Another benefit became apparent: Once I had everything written down, it became clear that doing things in a certain order would be more efficient. For instance, the air filter has to be dry before the vacuuming starts (so I can have the added benefit of filtering the stirred-up dust), so I put a few other tasks in between those two steps; the kitchen floor has to be dry to sweep, so there's no point doing that after I've splashed water on it while washing things in the sink, and so on.

At first it seemed a little odd writing down such "obvious" chores, but I reminded myself that even airline pilots - with all their training and skill - have checklists before takeoff.

As far as the psychology is concerned: I think it has to do with putting a pseudo "other" in charge of affairs. The list is like a "boss" who dictates what must be done. You still have freedom of choice - you can after all ignore the list, but once it's written down it has an existence independent of your idle thoughts and good intentions.



John.