I will get this out of the way, this blog is not about Christmas lists even though we’re in the season! If you’re looking for a gift guide you can check out this blog from last year. Instead I wanted to talk about crafting a list of daily non-negotiables or actions and how to properly use it.

In the article “Why We Continue to Rely on (and Love) To-Do Lists” on Harvard Business Review, Vasundhara Sawhney interviews researcher E. J. Masicampo on the psychology behind to-do lists. In their discussion they dive into the pros and cons of an organized list, and give some thoughts on how to use them effectively. Masicampo notes “There is plenty of work that suggests simply maintaining awareness of our goals helps us be disciplined and successful,” and I can’t agree more. The main point of the piece is that lists are only effective tools when they drive specific action.

I’m personally drawn to this topic because I see this play out in practice in my work with clients. Having a clearly defined list of daily actions that you use to guide your day that has a built in mechanism of mindfulness is a powerful tool when working on definitive goals. Clients that put this into practice have a greater awareness of their wins, their challenges, and ammunition on their side when they’re feeling a bit directionless in their day to day life.

Today I want to share my steps for building your list and the actions needed to make it a useful resource. You may have history creating many to-do lists that you either abandon or don’t use to their full potential. I hope my thoughts will change this perspective and set you up for success, so let’s get into it!

Clearly Define Your Goals

You have to start somewhere and while our first instinct might be to start with “What should be on my daily action list?” I think the true starting place is being sure that you have clearly defined the goals you are working on. I find it best to sort them as well, is the goal something you want to accomplish weekly, monthly or more long term. The more detailed you can get the better equipped you will be when try to turn them into action. For example, “Work out more weekly” is not as effective of a goal as “Three strength training sessions and three cardio activities a week.”

Identify Timely Actions That Support Them

Look at each goal and decide what are the actions you need to be taking to achieve each of them. There can be some overlap here! If you have a weight loss goal and a clothing size goal, they’re on similar tracks so your actions may seem the same for each. Write down the duplicates, it will help as you progress through this process. As with the first step, make the actions specific. Don’t worry right now if they fit into a daily list or not!

Break It Down

Now we assess if the actions are something that involve a daily routine or are more specifically timed. What I mean here is, you may have actions that are necessary but are more date specific on a monthly or quarterly basis even. Group all the actions into categories that will allow you to determine what will be daily targets. I find that a Google Sheet is a great tool for helping with this. It will also allow you to see the duplicates and will certainly help with the next step!

Prioritize and Organize

Let’s bring the daily actions into focus now! (And keep your goal list handy!) Take a deep breath and review your goals one more time, then start organizing your action list based on priorities from your goals. I’ll say it once and a hundred more times, you define the priorities here. Don’t organize this list based on what you think someone else would do or would want you to do. The list may feel really long and overwhelming too but this is just the first pass. The duplicate actions may help you with the prioritizing. If something is on your list 3-4 times, it definitely seems important! After you have done this, take a good look. Some of the actions will seem like “no-brainers” or things you’re already doing with no problem, others may feel more challenging. This is okay! The purpose of the list is to be detailed and serve as a reminder when things do feel really challenging so don’t remove items immediately because you think, “Well I should just naturally do that every day so why list it out?” With review, make adjustments you need to until you feel you have the list in order. We’re not done though, the next step is about what you want to do daily versus what is realistically possible.

Know Yourself and Your Limits

Right now you may be looking at a very intimidating and long list. Part of prioritizing includes identifying what feels like an achievable list of actions. There is only so much in your cup every day that you can pour out and leaving the list long and overwhelming might end up being a bigger detriment in the end. Here’s where you really need to be the one to draw the line. Will there be ten items on your daily action list or five? Twelve? Four? You want the list to be challenging AND achievable. I do encourage you to certainly push yourself but also want to be sure you remember it will be okay to start at 80% consistent. If you’re perfect on day one, it may mean the challenge level isn’t high enough. We will talk in a few steps about assessing this, but right now, set your list. Don’t delete the rest, you will still need them!

Establish Your Checks and Balances

A big part of the Harvard article was about how to-do lists without any sense of timing or urgency can lead to inaction. This is the “checking it twice” part of this blog’s title. You don’t just need to create a list, you need to plan for how you will check in daily on your progress completing it. One way to do this is to sort your list by time of day for completion goals. Are some tasks specifically related to the morning? To your evening? You should also build in check points where you look at the list and track progress. This can be when you wake up to remind you of the day’s tasks and before bed to reflect on accomplishment. Another trick is to pull your list out every time you sit down for a meal. What will work best for you? Whatever you do, make it a definitive plan and don’t just let it be “I am sure I will check it.”

Put It Into Action

The simplest and shortest step. Start using the list! You did all this work to get here so don’t break the momentum. Get going!

Evaluate and Re-Work As Needed

If you are tracking your progress using your list throughout the week you will have plenty of data for a weekly review! Set time aside to evaluate each item on the list. What were the items you handled with no difficulties? What things did you struggle with and what can you do to put them into focus? It is also a time to decide if everything is serving your needs as intended. If there are items on your list you’re regularly skipping ask yourself if it is because you’re avoiding the challenge, the action isn’t properly defined, or is it maybe not the correct action you need? This can be a good time to decide if the remaining actions you did not put on the list might better fit the spot. As you progress and continue to use the list and evaluate, you may determine that you are ready to add new actions.

Remember, you are the person who makes this list and you are the person who uses it. Your list doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s as it is about your goals. I hope you will take the time to give this a try and I would love to hear how it goes for you. If you want to let me know or need some help working through this process you can always send me a message by clicking here.

MAKE A LIST, CHECK IT TWICE!