Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Project: Making a List, Checking it Twice

Dear Santa, 

You may mysteriously appear once a year (okay, we now know it’s our parents to deliver presents to toddlers and pubescent children), but if there’s one thing you have taught us it is the importance of lists. We have delusions regarding lists, thinking they overcomplicate life, that they pressure us into feeling we have an insurmountable mountain of tasks to complete with a tight deadline. But I guess that’s why you check it twice. I guess that’s why you delegate to your happy little elves. I guess that’s why you have the big shebang once a year.

 Yours Truly,

 An Impending Entrepreneur 

So maybe we cannot follow the footsteps of Santa. Maybe we cannot live off of cookies and milk, and I don’t know that our daily, year-long work apparel should resemble a velvet red and white suit.

But we should keep a list. Perhaps of several sorts:

  • Inventory Lists – What’s in your closet, on your shelves, in your desk? It’s vital to appreciate the value of belongings. Whether you are in retail or sell your skills, know the “where” and worth of your stock.


  • Client Run-Down Lists – Do you know who you work with, who you work for, who works for you? Do you know what they do for you, what you do for them? When a new employee joins your team having a run-down can help them catch up!


  • Contact Lists – Make sure to keep this updated annually. Sending out virtual, and hard copy messages make all the difference – especially if they reach the right party.


  • Budget Lists – You have either a quarterly or annual one for many departments and creating a list for your wants and what you don’t want anymore is a great way to begin.


  • Bucket Lists – Things to do before the day (week, month or quarter) is over. You choose the measure of time.


  • Motivational Lists – Keep a stockpile of motivational quotes. Trust me. They’re like counting to ten.


  • Weekly To-Do Lists – If you want to get something done, you have to remember what it is. No matter how often we think we won’t forget something; inevitably we forget it within an hour. Tying a string around the finger? That almost requires us tying another string around the finger, so we remember the reason behind the first one. Similar to your bucket list, your weekly to-do list is your routine, the regime of your work culture. Things may be added or subtracted, but it’s what makes the office cycle running so successful and smooth.



So then, why do you think they process so much paper? It’s not just to replicate airplanes.



List making, checking it twice and marking off that which we have completed is called the tracking progress.

  • The power of tracking progress enhances your self-worth, thus your surroundings.
  • The power of tracking progress keeps us accountable to our actions.
  • The power of tracking progress keeps us aware of our wins and where we need to work hard.
  • The power of tracking progress is found in the concept of the Calendar through a list of days keeping us in order.


Our life is comprised of lists. See for yourself how nice it is to complete a task as you let the power of tracking be a positive thing.

-The Green Couch



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