The benefits of making lists & 15 lists that will help organize your life

This blog post is going to share with you the benefits of list making and 15 lists that will help you get your life together.

As a mom, my life can sometimes feel like an open internet browser with 3941 open tabs running at all times. Having an organized calendar, consistent routines and structures can really help. However, there is one thing that has completely changed my life in terms of mental organization.

Making lists.

Back when I started learning about bullet journaling, I started getting in the habit of making lists. I would whip out my notebook and just start making running lists of things going on in my mind. This did two things for me; one, it helped my mind calm down and leave me to feel more grounded in the day to day. two, it gave me more time.

Over the years I have cultivated a list of the lists that make life feel more balanced and organized and I am going to share 15 of them with you. Before I do that, I want to tell you some of the health and wellbeing benefits that making lists can do for you.

The benefits of making lists:

Mindfulness and Present Moment Awareness. When making lists, you engage in a form of mindfulness. You become present in the moment as you assess your tasks and intentions. This mindfulness helps prevent the mind from wandering into future worries or past regrets, promoting a sense of calm and contentment.

• Stress Reduction through Organization. Organizing your thoughts into lists creates a sense of order in your life. This organization minimizes the stress that can come from feeling overwhelmed by an ever-growing to-do list. Having a clear plan helps you prioritize tasks, making them feel more manageable and achievable.

• Reduced Mental Clutter and Anxiety. The act of making lists allows you to transfer your thoughts from your mind onto paper or a digital device. This simple action helps declutter your mind, providing a sense of relief from mental chaos. By externalizing your thoughts, you free up mental space, reducing anxiety and promoting a clearer, calmer state of mind.

• Enhanced Focus and Productivity. Lists serve as roadmaps for your day, breaking down tasks into actionable steps. This structured approach enhances your focus and productivity. As you check off items on your list, you experience a sense of accomplishment that boosts your mood and motivation to tackle the next task.

• Avenue for Creative Expression. Lists are not limited to tasks; they can also include ideas, goals, dreams, and more. This flexibility provides an avenue for creative expression and self-discovery. By listing your aspirations and interests, you engage in a positive, self-affirming activity that fosters a sense of purpose.

Okay, now that you know the benefits of making lists, I want to help set you up with the proper tools for list making.

SUPPLIES FOR MAKING LISTS:

I suggest using a spiral notebook, something small that you don’t mind carrying around with you. I personally am obsessed with the Bando spiral notebooks, they feel so good to write in and I love that they can lay flat and sit with just one page open. As I got more into making lists, I switched over to a disc bound spiral notebook.

Here’s how to set up your lists:

Grab your notebook and make a title page for each list. You can even make a directory at the front of your notebook with a numbered list and then use post it tabs to label each page with the number associated.

15 lists that will help organize your life:

1. Monthly Intentions

This is the list I always start with, because it sets the tone for everything else. At the beginning of each month, I sit down with my notebook and get really honest about what I want the next four weeks to feel like — not just what I want to accomplish, but the energy I want to move through. I'll write down concrete intentions like "gym three times a week," "more meal planning," or "read before bed instead of scrolling," alongside the affirmations I'm currently working with to reprogram my subconscious mind. There's something powerful about naming your intentions on paper before the month even begins — it's like giving your future self a gentle nudge in the right direction. I also like to revisit last month's list before I write the new one, so I can see what stuck, what didn't, and why. This little ritual takes maybe ten minutes, but it completely shifts how deliberate the rest of my month feels.

2. Things to Buy

This is the simplest list on here, but it saves me so much mental energy. Instead of trying to remember every random thing I need — a new candle, more hangers, a birthday gift for my niece, that skincare product I ran out of — I keep one running page where it all lives. Whenever a thought pops into my head ("oh, I need more coffee filters"), it goes straight onto the list instead of floating around in my brain until I inevitably forget it. I find this especially helpful when I'm about to run errands or place an online order, because I can glance at the list and consolidate everything into one trip or one cart instead of making five separate purchases throughout the week. It also keeps me from impulse buying things I don't actually need, because I only buy what's written down.

3. Master To-Do List

This is the catch-all list, the brain dump, the place where everything that needs to get done eventually lands. Anything from "call the dentist" to "finish that client proposal" to "clean out the junk drawer" goes here first. I don't worry about prioritizing or organizing it perfectly in the moment — the goal is just to get it out of my head and onto paper so it stops taking up mental bandwidth. Once a week, usually on Sunday, I'll go through this master list and pull the most urgent or time-sensitive items onto my daily to-do list, breaking the bigger tasks into smaller, more manageable steps. Having this master list means I never have that panicked feeling of "wait, was there something I was supposed to do?" because it's always written down somewhere I can check.

4. Spending List

I like to keep a running list of what I spend during the month so I can stay aware of my habits without needing a complicated budgeting app. Every time I make a purchase — whether it's groceries, a coffee run, or an online order — I jot it down with a quick note of the amount and category. This isn't about restriction or guilt; it's about awareness. When you can actually see your spending laid out in front of you, patterns start to emerge that you'd never notice otherwise, like realizing you've spent more on takeout this month than you thought, or that a subscription you forgot about is still quietly charging you. At the end of the month, I'll glance back through the list and use it to inform how I want to approach spending the following month. It's a simple habit, but it keeps money mindful instead of mindless.

5. Recipe List

This list is where I keep all the recipes I want to try or make again, whether I spotted them on Pinterest, in a cookbook, or on a friend's Instagram story. Meal planning used to stress me out because I'd stand in front of the fridge every night with zero inspiration, but keeping a running recipe list has completely solved that. When it's time to plan the week's meals, I just flip to this page instead of scrambling to think of something new. I'll jot down the dish name, where I found it, and sometimes a quick note about any modifications I want to make. It's also a lovely place to record family favorites and recipes passed down from relatives, so they don't get lost. Over time, this list becomes this really sweet, ever-growing collection of meals that represent different seasons and moments in your life.

6. Things to Clean Out / Declutter

Decluttering can feel completely overwhelming if you try to think about your whole house at once, so I break it down room by room, drawer by drawer, and put it all on this list. The pantry, the linen closet, under the bathroom sink, the garage, my closet — every area that needs attention gets its own line so I can check it off as I go. What I love about this list is that it turns a vague, daunting idea ("I need to declutter") into a series of small, doable tasks that don't require an entire weekend to complete. Some weeks I'll tackle one drawer; other weeks I have more time and energy for a bigger project. Either way, having it written down means I'm chipping away at it consistently instead of only doing a massive purge once a year when things get completely out of control.

7. Inventory List

This is my household supplies list — toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, dish soap, trash bags, and all the little things that quietly run out without warning. I keep track of what we have and what's getting low so I never end up in that frustrating moment of realizing we're completely out of something essential at the worst possible time. This list pairs really well with my "things to buy" list, because once something hits low inventory, I move it over so it gets picked up on the next shopping trip. It sounds like a small, unglamorous list, but keeping a household running smoothly really comes down to these behind-the-scenes details, and having them written out takes so much of the guesswork and last-minute scrambling out of managing a home.

8. Appointments to Make List

Any and all appointments I need to schedule go on this list — the dentist, the eye doctor, a haircut, the vet, a home repair consultation, you name it. I like to think of this as a brain dump specifically for the things that require a phone call or an online booking, because those tasks tend to get pushed aside the longest since they require an extra step beyond just "doing" them. Once something is on this list, I can set aside time — usually once a week — to sit down and knock out several calls or bookings at once instead of letting them linger for months. This has been a game changer for staying on top of preventative care and home maintenance, the kind of things that are easy to forget about until they become urgent.

9. Fitness Plan

This list is where I map out my monthly goals around health and wellness — not a rigid, punishing regimen, but a gentle plan that keeps me accountable to feeling good in my body. I'll note things like how many days a week I want to move my body, what kind of workouts I want to prioritize, any classes I want to try, or wellness goals like drinking more water or stretching before bed. Writing this out at the start of the month gives me something concrete to check in with, rather than vague intentions that dissolve the moment life gets busy. I also use this space to track how I'm feeling — energy levels, sleep quality, moods — so I can notice patterns and adjust as needed. It keeps fitness feeling like self-care instead of a chore.

10. Emails / Cards / Notes to Send

This list always helps me remember birthdays coming up in the month, thank-you notes I've been meaning to write, or just checking in with long-distance friends and family I don't want to lose touch with. In the busyness of everyday life, it's so easy for these small but meaningful gestures to slip through the cracks, even when we genuinely care about the people we're thinking of. Having a dedicated list means I actually follow through, because I'm not relying on remembering it at the exact right moment. I'll jot down who I want to reach out to and sometimes a quick note about what I want to say or include, whether it's a card in the mail or a simple text checking in. It's a small habit that keeps relationships nurtured and makes people feel remembered.

11. Errands to Run

Similar to the shopping list, but this one is specifically for the tasks that require me to actually leave the house — dropping off dry cleaning, returning a package, picking up a prescription, taking something to be repaired. I find that grouping all my errands onto one list lets me plan more efficient trips instead of making separate outings for each individual task, which saves both time and gas. Before I head out for the day, I'll glance at this list and map out the most logical route to hit everything in one go. It also means nothing gets forgotten or left undone for weeks at a time, because it's sitting right there on the page, staring back at me until it's crossed off.

12. Bills to Pay

Keeping a running list of bills — due dates, amounts, and whether they've been paid — has saved me from so many late fees and that sinking feeling of forgetting something important. I'll list out everything from the mortgage or rent to utilities, subscriptions, and any recurring payments, along with when each one is due. This isn't meant to replace a full budgeting system, but it acts as a quick-glance safety net so nothing slips through unnoticed, especially during busier months when it's easier to lose track of dates. I also use this list to periodically review subscriptions and recurring charges, which is a great way to catch things you're paying for but no longer use or need. There's real peace of mind in knowing exactly where your money is going and that everything is accounted for.

13. Books to Read / Shows to Watch

This is one of the more fun lists, honestly, and I think it's important to have at least one list that's purely for pleasure. I keep a running page of book recommendations I've heard about from friends, podcasts, or other readers, along with shows and movies people have mentioned that I want to check out. Without writing these down, I inevitably forget them the moment someone brings them up, and then months later I'm scrambling to remember that book title someone mentioned at dinner. Now, whenever I'm in the mood for a new read or looking for something to watch, I have a whole curated list ready to go instead of endlessly scrolling through options feeling paralyzed by choice. It also makes for a lovely record over time of what's been capturing your interest.

14. Restaurants to Try / Places to Check Out

This list is a lifesaver anytime we need to decide where to go for dinner, especially when you're trying to break out of the same rotation of go-to spots. I keep track of restaurants friends have recommended, places I've seen online that caught my eye, or new spots that have opened up nearby that I want to check out. It's also incredibly useful for date nights or when we're traveling somewhere new and want a few solid options lined up ahead of time instead of scrambling to search once we're already there and hungry. I'll jot down a quick note about what type of cuisine it is or why it was recommended, so when decision time comes, I can quickly scan the list and pick something that fits the mood instead of the classic "I don't know, where do you want to go?" back and forth.

15. Things to Manifest

This might be my favorite list of all. I keep a running page of anything and everything I want to manifest into my life — big dreams, small hopes, specific goals, feelings I want to experience more of. It really helps to write these things down and act as if you've just placed an order with the universe, trusting that what's meant for you is already on its way. There's something almost ceremonial about putting pen to paper and naming your desires so specifically; it makes them feel real and possible in a way that just thinking about them never quite does. I revisit this list often, adding to it as new dreams surface and crossing things off as they come to fruition, which happens more often than you'd expect once you start paying attention. This list is less about productivity and more about staying connected to hope, possibility, and the life you're actively creating.

Listen to this episode of the Blissfully Ambitious podcast where I break down each list more specifically for you. Hope you enjoy.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I'll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you.

How to Find Your Online Business Niche When You Have Too Many Interests {podcast ep. 391}

I can’t tell you how many times someone has said to me, “I want to start a blog, I just don’t know what to write about?” If I had a dollar for each time, I’d certainly be rich. So, if you are one of those people, this post is for you.

Listen to the podcast episode here:

If you've ever sat down with a journal, a candle, and every ounce of intention you could muster, trying to answer the question "what's my niche?" — and walked away with nothing but a longer list of things you love and zero clarity — you are not broken. You are not indecisive. And you definitely are not alone.

This is, without question, one of the most common things I hear from women who reach out to me wanting to start an online business: "I want to do this so badly, but I have no idea what my thing is."

You've got the wellness girl in you who wants to talk about cycle syncing. You've got the design girl who could talk about home decor for hours. You've got the mindset girl, the money girl, the creative girl, the girl who just wants to write and doesn't care what about. And every time you try to pick a lane, it feels like you're choosing which one of your children to leave behind.

Here's the truth I want you to sit with before you read another word: your niche isn't something you pick. It's something you uncover.

That single reframe changes everything about how you approach this. And in this post, I'm going to walk you through exactly how to do it — not with another generic "just pick a topic" checklist, but with a real process for finding your brand essence, identifying what you're actually known for, and turning your identity into a business that feels like you, not like a costume you put on to look "niched down enough" for the internet.

Related Reading:

• How to start a profitable blog in 2026 and beyond

• The ultimate guide to starting an online lifestyle business

Why "Just Pick a Niche" Advice Doesn't Work for Multi-Passionate Women

Most online business advice treats niching down like a math problem. Pick a topic. Pick an audience. Pick a price point. Done.

But if you're a woman with range — someone who has lived a few lives already, who's curious about everything, who feels most alive when she's learning something new — that advice doesn't just feel hard to follow. It feels like it's asking you to shrink.

And when you try to force yourself into a niche that doesn't actually reflect who you are, a few things happen:

• You start a blog or an Instagram account about "productivity for moms" and it's technically fine, but you feel nothing when you post.

• You freeze before ever launching because you're terrified you'll pick the "wrong" one and be stuck with it forever.

• You start ten different projects, abandon them all within a few weeks, and start believing the story that you're just not disciplined enough to finish anything.

None of that is a discipline problem. It's a foundation problem. You're trying to build a house before you've figured out what land you're building it on.

The women who build online businesses that feel effortless — the ones whose content people can't stop sharing, whose offers sell without them having to convince anyone — didn't get there by picking a topic out of a hat. They got there by getting radically clear on their brand essence first, and letting the niche reveal itself from that.

What Is Brand Essence (And Why It Matters More Than Your Niche)

Your brand essence is the thread that runs through everything you've ever loved, every version of yourself you've ever been, and every problem you've ever solved — for yourself or for someone else — without even trying.

It's not a topic. It's not an industry. It's closer to a frequency.

Think about it this way: two women could both build businesses around "wellness," and their brands could feel completely different, because their essence is different. One woman's essence might be structure and discipline — she attracts people who want a plan and a system. Another woman's essence might be softness and permission — she attracts people who are exhausted from rigid plans and need someone to give them room to breathe.

Same industry. Completely different personal brand. Because brand essence isn't about what you talk about — it's about how you make people feel and what you help them become.

This is why "find your niche" advice so often falls flat. It's asking you to answer a surface-level question before you've done the deeper work of understanding your own essence. Once you know your essence, the niche question practically answers itself.

How to Start Uncovering Your Brand Essence

Grab a notebook (or open a fresh note on your phone — no judgment) and sit with these questions. Don't overthink your answers. The first thing that comes to mind is usually the truest one.

1. What have people always come to you for advice on? Not what you studied. Not what you're "supposed" to be good at. What do your friends, your coworkers, your family actually ask you about?

2. What's a problem you solved for yourself that you're now weirdly passionate about helping other people solve? This is often the most powerful place to build from, because you have both the lived experience and the genuine enthusiasm.

3. What do you talk about for free, unprompted, because you can't help yourself? If you find yourself sending unsolicited voice memos to your group chat about a topic, that's data.

4. What did people notice about you before you ever tried to be noticed? Maybe it was your style. Your intuition. Your ability to make any space feel calm. Your bluntness. Your optimism. These qualities are part of your essence, not just your personality.

5. If every "shoulds" disappeared — no pressure to monetize a specific thing, no comparison to what's working for everyone else — what would you talk about anyway?

Read back through your answers. You'll likely notice a thread — not a topic, but a feeling or a role you naturally step into. Maybe it's "the translator" who takes complicated things and makes them simple. Maybe it's "the permission giver" who helps people stop overthinking. Maybe it's "the alchemist" who helps people turn a mess into something beautiful.

That thread is your brand essence. And it's far more durable than any single niche, because it can flex across topics without ever losing its identity.

What Are You Known For? (The Question Most Women Skip)

Once you have a sense of your essence, the next step is identifying what you're actually known for — or what you want to become known for.

This is different from your essence, and it's different from a niche. It's the specific, tangible thing people would say if someone asked them, "What does she do?"

Here's an exercise I love for this: imagine someone is describing you to a friend, trying to convince them to follow you or work with you. What are they saying?

• "She's the one who teaches women how to actually enjoy budgeting instead of dreading it."

• "She's the one who helps burned-out corporate women design their homes so they finally feel like they can breathe."

• "She's the one who makes astrology actually make sense for people who think it's silly."

Notice how specific these are. They're not "she does wellness content" or "she's into self-development." They're a clear, ownable statement that separates you from every other woman doing something adjacent to what you do.

If you don't have an answer to this yet, that's okay — it doesn't mean you don't have one in you. It usually means you haven't given yourself permission to claim it yet. Which brings us to the next step.

Choosing a Niche: A Framework for Women With Too Many Interests

Now that you have a sense of your essence and what you want to be known for, here's where the actual niche comes in — and I promise, this part gets so much easier once the first two pieces are in place.

Instead of asking "what's my niche," ask these three questions:

1. Where does my essence meet a real, specific pain point?

Your essence might be "the translator who simplifies complicated things." That's not a niche on its own — but paired with a specific audience and problem, it becomes one. Maybe it's translating financial concepts for creative women who feel intimidated by money talk. Maybe it's translating wellness science for busy moms who don't have time to read research papers.

Your niche lives at the intersection of who you naturally are and a problem people are actively trying to solve.

2. What's the version of this that I could talk about for years without getting bored?

A lot of women pick a niche based on what's trending, and then feel trapped six months later when the trend shifts or they simply grow. Ask yourself: is this topic big enough, and does it matter enough to me personally, that I could still be excited about it three years from now?

3. What do I want my audience to feel, more than what I want them to learn?

This might be the most overlooked piece of niching, and it's the one that determines whether your content and offers feel magnetic or forgettable. People don't just follow you for information — there's information everywhere. They follow you because of how being around your content makes them feel: hopeful, seen, calm, energized, understood.

When you can answer these three questions, you'll notice your "too many interests" problem starts to resolve itself — not because you're forcing yourself to choose one thing and abandon the rest, but because you realize most of your interests were always expressions of the same essence. They were never actually separate. You were the throughline the whole time.

Turning Your Identity Into a Brand (Without Losing Yourself)

This is the part that scares a lot of women, because "building a personal brand" can feel like it requires you to perform a version of yourself that isn't real, or to overshare things you're not ready to share.

I want to gently push back on that fear.

The strongest personal brands aren't built on oversharing or performing. They're built on honest specificity. The goal isn't to tell people everything about your life — it's to be so clear and so consistent about who you are and what you stand for that the right people recognize themselves in you almost instantly.

Here's how to start turning your identity into a brand without losing yourself in the process:

• Let your story be the strategy, not the sales pitch. Your lived experience — the version of your life before you figured this out — is not a liability. It's the exact thing your future audience is searching for at 11pm, wondering if anyone else has been where they are.

• Stop trying to sound like an expert and start sounding like yourself. The online business world is saturated with people leading with credentials and frameworks. What actually makes someone magnetic is their perspective — the specific, slightly unusual way they see the world that nobody else has.

• Give your brand a point of view, not just a topic. A niche tells people what you talk about. A point of view tells people what you believe. "I help women build businesses" is a niche. "I believe ambitious women don't need to hustle to build wealth" is a point of view — and it's the thing people will remember, quote, and share.

• Let it evolve. Your brand doesn't need to be a finished, polished thing before you start. It needs to be honest right now, with room to deepen as you learn more about your own essence through the process of actually showing up.

Crafting a Message That Makes Your Niche Click Into Place

Once you know your essence, what you're known for, and the specific intersection where your niche lives, the last piece is your message — the sentence that makes everything click for the people who find you.

A strong message usually follows a simple shape: I help [specific audience] do [specific transformation] so they can [deeper outcome].

But don't stop at the surface-level version. The messages that actually convert and actually spread are the ones layered with your point of view. Compare:

• Surface version: "I help women start online businesses."

• Message with essence and point of view: "I help multi-passionate women stop treating their range as a liability and start building a business around the thread that's been there all along."

The second one doesn't just describe a service. It tells a very specific woman — one who feels exactly like you did before you had this clarity — that she's found the right person.

Common Questions When You're Trying to Turn Your Passion Into a Business

Even with a framework in hand, a few questions tend to come up over and over when women start this process. Let's clear them up.

"What if my niche changes as I grow?"

It will — and that's not a failure of the process, it's proof the process worked. Your niche should evolve as you deepen your understanding of your own essence. What usually stays constant is the thread underneath it: your point of view, the way you make people feel, the type of transformation you're drawn to creating. The topic on the surface can shift while the foundation holds steady. Women who panic about "picking the wrong niche forever" are usually confusing the surface-level topic with the deeper essence — and it's the essence that actually needs to be right, not the topic.

"What if I pick something and nobody cares?"

This fear keeps more women stuck than almost anything else. But here's the thing — audiences don't fall in love with topics in a vacuum. They fall in love with a specific person's take on a topic. There are thousands of women teaching budgeting, wellness, or personal branding right now, and new ones will succeed every single day, because they're not competing on topic. They're building something nobody else can replicate: their essence, their story, their exact point of view. If you've done the work of uncovering your essence first, "nobody cares" becomes far less likely, because you're not offering a generic version of a crowded topic — you're offering the version only you could create.

"Do I need to niche down immediately, or can I start broad?"

You can absolutely start broader than you think you're "supposed" to. What matters far more than immediate precision is consistency of essence and point of view. Many successful online businesses started as a woman simply showing up as herself, talking about what genuinely lit her up, long before she could have articulated her niche in a tidy sentence. The niche often becomes clear through consistent showing up, not before it. Give yourself permission to start before you have it perfectly figured out — clarity is built through action just as often as it's built through reflection.

"What if my interests genuinely don't connect to each other at all?"

In my experience working with women through this exact process, this is rarer than it feels. Almost always, when we dig into brand essence together, the interests that felt scattered turn out to share a common role you play, a common feeling you create, or a common type of transformation you're drawn to. Interior design and financial coaching might seem unrelated on the surface — until you realize the thread is "helping women create environments, physical or financial, that make them feel safe and expansive." That's not a stretch. That's an essence. If your interests still feel truly disconnected after doing the reflection work, it usually means you haven't gone deep enough yet, not that the thread doesn't exist.

You Don't Have to Choose Between Your Interests — You Have to Uncover What's Underneath Them

If there's one thing I want you to walk away with, it's this: the fact that you have too many interests was never actually the problem. The problem was believing that having range meant you had to pick and abandon the rest of yourself to build something real.

You don't. Your niche was never meant to be a cage. It was always meant to be the specific expression of an essence that's been consistent your whole life — you just haven't had the framework yet to see it clearly.

That's exactly what I built the Feminine Freedom Formula - guide to digital wealth for women, to walk you through. It's not another "pick your niche in five steps" worksheet that ignores everything that makes you you. It's a full process for discovering your brand essence, getting honest about what you're known for, choosing a niche that can actually hold all of who you are, and turning your identity into a brand and a business that feels less like a performance and more like coming home to yourself.

If you're ready to stop circling the question of "what's my thing" and finally get the clarity to build something that feels unmistakably like you, grab the Feminine Wealth Formula here — and let's finally uncover it together.