Ticking off the tasks is the ticket to triumph

The humble to-do list, that motley, scrawled personal accounting of tasks to be accomplished, is an intrinsic part of many people’s day-to-day life.

For Yuval Abramovitz, however, it has become a highway to success, as well as the milestones along that route.

It started with his first list, written when he was just 17 years old. That was after he’d fallen on an oil slick outside the restaurant where he worked as a waiter and as a result was paralyzed in a wheelchair for more than a year.

That list, written more out of boredom than despair, included his plans to kiss for the first time, write a book, travel to London, perform in a musical, work as a journalist, act in a TV show and climb the Great Wall of China with his grandmother.

Within the next decade, Abramovitz, or “UV,” as he calls himself, short for Yuval, ticked off most of the items on his list and kept writing new ones. He also learned how to walk again, an accomplishment that taught him the benefits of setting goals and not giving up on any of his dreams.

But perhaps his greatest gain was realizing that lists, the attempt to make order out of chaos, could be the best way to realize his dreams as well as everyone else’s.

Now Abramovitz, 39, is the self-published author of “The List, Shout Out Your Dreams,” a motivational treatise on how to use lists to realize all your hopes and wishes. He also has a whole website promoting his seminars, workshops and plans, and his latest book, “The Idea,” which came out at the beginning of January, and was in fifth place on the local bestseller list as of last week, according to his public relations agent.

“Everyone has dreams, whether you’re seven or 92,” said Abramovitz, during a recent lunch in Tel Aviv.

Dreams, sure, but the power to fulfill them? That requires energy.

In person, Abramovitz, the man who likes to make lists and shout them out, is down-to-earth, a regular guy eating a plate of goulash and rice in Tel Aviv’s train station complex, occasionally listening in to the heated conversation taking place at the next table.

But he is also driven, a chatty and energetic man with a carefully combed disconnected undercut hairdo (long on top, short on the sides), brushed up to a point that is reminiscent of Belgian comic book hero Tintin.

He has a doggedness that doesn’t allow him to stop until he’s ticked off each item on his list.

On this Tuesday afternoon, he’s got his most recent book by his side, “The Idea,” as well as a short, printed English translation of “The List,” and notes on his next book, a children’s book about the power of dreams.

Children are a new audience for Abramovitz, who has been doing motivational speaking for several years now and began speaking to kids’ groups more recently at NIS 4,000 (about $1,000) a pop. He talks to kids about not limiting their dreams, whether they want to be an astronaut or a soccer player.

“I tell them to think now about what they want to because there will be changes along the way,” he said. “I talk to my seven-year-old about it all the time. She wants to be an Olympic athlete and I say to her that she can, and she can do other things, too. We’re not our parents who spent 50 years working in the same factory.”

Perhaps what makes Abramovitz different from the average dream catcher is that he wants everyone’s dreams to come true.

“Someone told me they had no dreams left at fortysomething,” he said. “I said, ‘dreams are whatever your dreams are.’ I have a dream of having three days without work, to download all the photos from my phone — and you can call it a mission, but it’s a dream. Dreams don’t have to be about meeting Madonna or winning a million shekels, it’s about fulfilling the things that you want to do.”

“You don’t have to get to Hollywood like Gal Gadot, but do what you want,” he said, referring to the Israeli star of the new Wonder Woman movie. “There are things I’m stuck with. I want to meet Oprah, I want to be slimmer. Sometimes I give up weekends and family and friends and don’t go to sleep until 2 a.m. in order to accomplish what I’m dreaming about.”

It took some time for Abramovitz to bring his dream theory to the public. He started with a blog about five years ago, which drew so many responses and comments from strangers that Abramovitz started to speak publicly and offer workshops. He hosted dinners in his home at which he would draw out lists of dreams from the strangers around his table and then have them shout them out.

He decided to turn his list methodology into a book, but couldn’t find anyone to publish it.

Never one to be stopped by simple obstacles, he set up a crowdfunding campaign and raised $100,000 toward publishing the book himself.

Now Abramovitz has made lists into a full-time profession. He has sold 150,000 copies of “The List,” he has toured the US, England, Hungary and Germany, and “The List” received Amazon’s Bestseller stamp in the motivational books category.

“The List” tells Yuval’s story of triumphing over paralysis, drawing up a list of life dreams and pursuing each one to success. It then shows readers how to iterate and fulfill their own dreams

He’s a big believer in the grand statement, and has plans to interview Bruce Willis (he met him in a restaurant) and to star in a play. He also believes in the power of friendship and social networks, and his own gut. In other words, Abramovitz has chutzpah.

“There’s something in the casualness of Israelis, the way we say things to each other on the street, that allows us to pick up the phone and call a stranger or find them on Facebook,” said Abramovitz. “When I bring this to the US, people love the chutzpah. They laugh and can’t believe the things I’ve done.”

It’s not about being rude, insisted Abramovitz; it’s about the ability to access things and people.

Abramovitz gauges his success by the successes of his audience. He talks about Carol from Carolina, a retired 76-year-old whose spirits were lifted after she read his book. Or a 70-year-old who told Abramovitz that his book opened his eyes to possibility.

“That’s why I’m doing this, that what this is all about,” he said.

There is something about the very simplicity of the idea that appeals. Abramovitz doesn’t employ any psychology in his book. It’s just his understanding of the way the world has worked for him. He himself doesn’t necessarily understand why he’s succeeded.

“I see that’s something’s happening here, but I don’t really understand why,” he said. “This is how you’re supposed to live.”

Fearlessness is the key.

“A lot of people are scared,” he said. “I’m no hero, I get scared too. But fears cause people not to do what they want,” whether it’s starting a business, breaking up a family, or buying a new couch.

And perhaps that’s the real secret to Abramovitz’s willingness to check off every item on his to-do list, no matter how exotic, far-fetched or trivial.

“There are no guarantees, no promises that I would walk again, or that the book would sell, or that a marriage will last,” he said. “I’m not a psychologist, and I have more questions than answers. That isn’t something that people do; they don’t want to show what they don’t know.”

Abramovitz, though? Not a problem. If he wants to learn something, he just makes a list.