Confessions of a List-a-holic

I have a confession to make. I'm one of those people. I make lists. Groceries. To-Dos. Songs I've heard and want to look up on YouTube. Movies I want to see. Things I want to Google. Once, I even made a list of the lists that I needed to make. And not a damn one of the helped.

Lists give me a false sense of security. I will get to the grocery store. I will rent that movie. I will check iTunes for that album. I will email that client. I will bake two dozen cookies and cook dinner and remember my boyfriend's grandma's best friend's birthday. At least, that's what I hope. But then, I do forget the milk. I do forget the name of the movie and the name of the band and which client I was going to email. And my boyfriend's grandma's best friend...what was her name again?

Recently (as in, like, ten minutes ago), I decided I needed to figure out how to make my organization skills work in real time and not just on a piece of paper. Naturally, I decided to put my Google-fu skills to good use. The first link that popped up told me that I could make my to-do lists work for me with just 12 little tweaks. I think I will definitely try some of them out in the next few days. Writing down stuff that I've already done and crossing them off right away so that I feel more accomplished? Hell yeah! I'm definitely going to prioritize. Starting this blog is important, as it's intended to help get my name out there and bring in more clients (and hopefully some new friends!). Renting that movie that I've been meaning to rent for the last two years? Probably not so important.

What about you? Do you keep lists? How do you stay motivated to actually complete them? Or do you have another system altogether?