Making a List and Checking it Twice
For as long as I can remember, I have been a list maker in my personal and professional life. Whether it be in my iPhone in my Note’s app or on a sticky note or a yellow pad or in my Google calendar, I make lists. I have found that it keeps my head and my life organized.
Every day at the end of my workday, I take my trusty yellow legal notepad and I rewrite my list from the previous day omitting things I completed and adding more things I want to do the next day. But I keep the previous lists so I can flip back and have the gratifying sensation of seeing the things I accomplished. I also don’t get discouraged if things have many repeat visits on my lists. Sometimes it takes a while to get to them. Then periodically, I will visit my annual strategic plan to ensure it lines up with my daily lists.
Why isn’t it happening?
I am a big believer that if we stare at something on a daily basis and rewrite it on our list daily, we will eventually complete it. If we don’t, then maybe it wasn’t worth completing if it stared back at us from our list on a daily basis for a really long time. But we must find out why we didn’t do it. Takes too long? Might fail? Don’t have the resources? Keep getting interrupted? Maybe it can be offloaded to someone else or maybe it just isn’t that important or it can be categorized as a long-term goal. The key is to identify why you are avoiding it.
However you keep track of your ‘to dos’ doesn’t matter, just keep track of them. We have to create some sort of structure in a job that can often defy structure because so many things come out of the left field. Becoming a person who operates in only a reactive manner means you will not move yourself and your department forward. Reacting means just staying static and that’s not good for you or your company.
Sort through the noise
It often means sorting through the noise to prioritize what may seem like needs to happen today versus what needs to happen today to ensure you have a productive future. Sometimes what appears to need immediate attention, can actually wait or be handled by someone else. Every now and then we have to let go and let others handle things. That helps them grow and shows them you trust them.
The implications of waiting to improve service delivery or increase business can be far more critical than some issues that may seem to need immediate attention. This is why making a plan for the new year is so critical. It may take you a year to get through it, but with a plan, you will get through it and you and your department will be better for it.
It all comes back to operating with intention. Not someone else’s intention, but what is best for you and the entities that fall under your responsibility. You owe it to yourself to stick to your list.
“Lists are a form of power.” ~A.S. Byatt, English novelist and poet
