I love a good checklist. It is so satisfying to me to be able to see an something that needs to be done, to complete that something, and then to check it off of my “to do” list for the day. At the end of the day, I can look back at my checklist and see all that I have accomplished.
Checklists can be wonderful things. They can get us to refocus on what needs to get done for the day, especially if you get pulled away by something or someone else. When you come back to your desk, the checklist is there – waiting for you. It lives for you to cross items off the list. But there’s a dark side to checklists too…
Remember that satisfying feeling I talked about when you cross an item off of you list? Be careful that you’re not putting trivial items on there just so you can feel better about crossing them off. For example, you wouldn’t put “brushing your teeth” on the list. Do you need to do it? Yes. Is it important? Yes. But is it really separating you from your competition? Hopefully not.
We must learn to think bigger if we want to dramatically improve. This goes for goal-setting too. Writing a S.M.A.R.T. goal is important. But something can still be written S.M.A.R.T. and be too small to move the needle for you or your company. That’s why stretch goals are so important. It’s ok if you don’t know how you will achieve your stretch goal initially. It may seem far-fetched. But if you break it down piece by piece, approach it from a new direction (you can’t do the same thing that you’ve been doing and expect a different result), and are consistently working towards your goal, you have an opportunity to achieve these large goals.
So, when you make out your “to do” list for today, remember to only put the big action items that need to get done. And if you have time, look at your goals for the year again. We’re just about done with the first quarter. Have your goals changed? If not, should they?