The Office Tool For 2023: A Checklist!

Let’s all agree to the obvious - checklists are life savers. It’s a simple yet powerful tool to help you remember what needs to be done and make sure you get it done. An effective checklist can help you learn new skills more thoroughly and quickly by breaking down the task into smaller chunks. It also helps you stay on track by making sure you don’t miss any steps in your process, which can be particularly helpful when working on complex tasks where there is a lot of information that needs to be processed at once. Checklists also help with productivity because they allow you to organise your work in a way where you can find any piece of information quickly and easily. Talk about being neat!

Depending on the context, there are different types of checklists:

Category-specific:
Used to track items within a specific category, such as "purchases" or "paid bills." They can make it easy to keep track of what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.

Task-specific:
Used for tracking individual tasks or steps in a process, such as "pay bills." These help you prioritise and break down tasks into manageable pieces.

Process-specific:
Used for tracking processes or workflows that need to be done regularly, such as "edit a video." Once that is done, you can move on to the next step such as “send the final draft of the video to clients.”

There are two main effective ways to maintain a checklist: First, make it part of your job description so you get used to it. Second, use the checklist! No point planning an elaborate one only to leave it out in the work process. Here are some tips on how to start and how to stick to it:

#1 Keep the checklist short and to-the-point
You don't want to spend the time needed to make it comprehensive, but you also don't want to miss things that are important.

#2 Make sure your checklist is easy to use, accurate, and consistent
If there's a change in procedure or policy, make sure you reflect that change in your checklist so you’re on top of things.

#3 Establish a habit for checking off items
Check them off at least once every day! It's easy to let things slide when they're not part of your daily routine, but if something slips through the cracks, it can be costly—and discouraging—to find out later that you missed something critical.

#4 Write down the date when you started it
This makes it easier to keep track of your progress so you don’t procrastinate. Make sure you check them off according to the time frame you set.

#5 Be honest with yourself
Don’t just check off items from the checklist just because. At the end of the day, you’re only fooling yourself. Make sure you stay disciplined and stay true to the things you’ve bought, done or earned on the list.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.