image from Vizzso
Happy New Year!
As often happens, the new year brings resolutions, new goals, trying on new habits and a desire for change. And as we have all been saying - we could use some change from the last two years!
There are so many wonderful resources and tools out there to help you with all of these things.
Books like Atomic Habits, Atlas of the Heart or Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It are a few that are making the lists.
Programs/workshops like the Dare To Lead program, Shannon Foreman’s Wealth Circles, or Studio Me’s ME12 Week Transformation Program. You can find something to help you through changes in business, leadership and live.
There are people like Andrea Gharritt of The Bold Life Design, Alix Magner of Morgan Stanley, Keri Bischoff or Erin Werde who can coach you through many things.
And of course places like ModernWell, The Coven or Cornerstone Studios.
And then, there is the humble, simple checklist.
Checklists can tackle many things - organization, mistake avoidance, simplification, focusing and my favorite - freeing up some headspace. They can also just help you get things done faster.
"Checklists...remind us of the minimum necessary steps and make them explicit. They not only offer the possibility of verification but also instill a kind of discipline of higher performance."
—Atul Gawande
Plus - let’s face it - isn’t it satisfying to check that box? Or cross of that item?
There are many versions of checklists. According to Dr. Gawande, there are two key ones.
The first is the “Read-Do” which outlines steps for accomplishing something. This could be a recipe, following Christine Scherping’s steps to establish great client relationships, or creating a daily list of tasks for you, your team or contractors. You check off things as you go.
The second is the “Do-Confirm” (or Situational) which is usually used to confirm that everything that was supposed to get done - got done. It’s usually used when you do things from memory and then you stop and go through to confirm where you are at and for longer events.
Karen Jefferson of Rocky Mountain TSG uses a sales funnel checklist. She says that she “had it on a white board, but it's easy to accidentally erase the markers. It helps me see where my hot prospects are at a glance. Yes, I have the info in my dbase, but this is an at-a-glance tool that saves me from repeatedly looking stuff up in my dbase.”
Regardless of which kind of checklist you use, there are checklists for everything. Real Simple actually has a regular feature of checklists, 29 Achievable Thing to Do in January, is just one of many in their list. Ailee Nelson of Approach HR & Virtual Services, LLC published her Year-End HR Checklist to help employers make sure they were on top of their HR game.
Again - you can find a checklist for everything. You can also create your own. I loved Canva’s “The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Checklist” because it includes how to use their templates for some extra creative flair. : )
So as you move forward in 2022 - when things feel uncertain or overwhelming - go back to simple. Try creating a checklist. And then check, check, check…
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PS - if you are wondering about the “.” in Karen’s file name - here is her hot tip: “The . in the document name keeps it towards the top of my files. Sometimes I name stuff .aaa FILE NAME so it stays at the tippy top of my list.”
PPS - here is a take on the bucket list - the “chuck-it list” - what would be on yours?
