CHAPTER 7 | ORGANIZING: SETTING UP THE RIGHT BUCKETS
Checklists at All Levels
Be open to creating any kind of checklist as the urge strikes you.
The possibilities are endless—from "Core Life Values" to "Things
to Take Camping." Making lists, ad hoc, as they occur to you, is
one of the most powerful yet subtlest and simplest procedures
that you can install in your life.
To spark your creative thinking, here's a list of some of the
topics of checklists I've seen and used over the years:
- Personal Affirmations (i.e., personal value statements)
- Job Areas of Responsibility (key responsibility areas)
- Travel Checklist (everything to take on or do before a trip)
- Weekly Review (everything to review and/or update on a weekly
basis) - Training Program Components (all the things to handle when
putting on an event, front to back) - Clients
- Conference Checklist (everything to handle when putting on a
conference) - Focus Areas (key life roles and responsibilities)
- Key People in My Life/Work (relationships to assess regularly
for completion and opportunity development) - Organization Chart (key people and areas of output to manage
and maintain) - Personal Development (things to evaluate regularly to ensure
personal balance and progress)
Get comfortable with checklists, both ad hoc and more per-
manent. Be ready to create and eliminate them as required.
Appropriately used, they can be a tremendous asset in personal
productivity.
If in fact you have now collected everything that represents an open
loop in your life and work, processed each one of those items in