Last September, while other guests at a friend's wedding were dancing, Bridgette Bernagozzi pulled out some paper and a pen and began making a list.
"I'm kind of famous for making random lists and bringing out notebooks and writing stuff down while I'm talking to people," Bridgette said. "I took out some paper for some reason. Whatever we were talking about must have inspired me to say, 'I'm going to write that down. Maybe that's something I want to put on a to do list.'"
Bridgette soon began a list for her friend Tom — who later became her boyfriend Tom — and they contributed to each other's to-dos.
"I don't know whose idea that was. I probably said, at some point, 'Oh, you should put one down for me. I can't think of anything. It was easier, sometimes, to think of things for somebody else."
Tom's list ended up taped to his dresser; Bridgette's found a home in her wallet. By the following spring, she had checked off only two items, one of which was "Learn to fight better."
"I've half-learned to fight better. I have, but I'm not totally satisfied with it yet. But I really wanted to check that one off."
The list includes several things that help Bridgette relax — mediation, yoga, time with nature — and a few practical entries — "Decide on living situation" and "Finish my book."
"If you had asked me, 'What was on that list you wrote,'" Bridgette said, "I wouldn't have probably been able to tell you very many things."
However, she said the items on this list had been on her mind for some time. The list she wrote at the wedding was a master list of things she had been wanting to work on. Writing them down helped her focus what she wanted to accomplish.
"[List making] helps you to see what progress you've made. It's not necessarily about checking things off," Bridgette said. "It's about seeing where you've been and how far you've come."