Ramsay Countdown 3 - Of Lists and Ravens

Lists...

I'm a bit of a newcomer to lists. I discovered them in my late 30's and now I wonder what I ever did without them! At the moment I have a notebook for work and one for running. Actually that's not true, I have a selection for work and a selection for running. I write in them, making lists primarily.

It's not that I then need to return to them but it does help clear my mind of all the information that's swimming around and trying to make a nuisance of itself. I remember when I started training as a teacher we did an exercise which was basically answering some questions and then doing a short calculation. You then had to try and remember what the previous questions were. I couldn't remember a single one and was primed for the news that I was going to have to work harder.

Rather unexpectedly it turned out that the less you could remember the more efficient your brain was because it didn't hold on to information that it didn't need. I was chuffed, needless to say. The trouble is it's no good having an efficient processor if you can't remember what you are processing a few seconds later. This is where lists have been a revelation for me. I can process the information and let it sit on a list while that happens and then I can document what I've done so when someone asks me I can tell them. 

It's wonderfully liberating as well being able to put something down on paper and then forget about it until it needs resolving, often the need to resolve it has disappeared by the time you come to make any decisions. So I am surrounded by lists. I'm resisting the temptation to adjust and fine tune the ideas down on them. Some are functional, some are speculative, some are a record of information that is current at the time of writing and some are nonsense.

In and amongst there might be the odd comment or doodle, or a memory that stands out. The doodle of the rocks and the raven are from my recce along the Grey Corries. It was an impressive bird, I mean it was larger and had a deeper voice than any raven I have heard before. I half expected Thorin and Bilbo to emerge from the mist and tell me about how the ancient Ravens were friends to the Dwarves and used to be able to speak to them, a skill that is all but lost today. But they didn't. It did look majestic and it was definitely talking to someone though. Maybe it was me.

and lists...