How To: Avoid Silly Mistakes
Paula Rizzo
Best-Selling Author - Listful Thinking & Listful Living | Speaker | Media Trainer for Authors | Emmy-Award Winning Video/TV Producer | Productivity Expert | LinkedIn Learning Instructor
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Silly mistakes happen. And one of the main reasons they do, is because we’re often so distracted with everything else going on in our lives that we forget the easy stuff.
A simple checklist would fix this problem.
Lists won’t stop you from making any mistakes. But they can help you stop avoidable mistakes.
Don’t believe me? I have proof.
My very first TV job was at WLNY-TV 55 on Long Island. I was an intern in 2001 and then hired as a writer while I finished up my degree at Hofstra University.?
(Random fact: It’s where I met my hubby, Jay)?
One night at the station will live on in infamy – all because of one stupid, avoidable mistake.
That night – the main anchor was on vacation. So one of the reporters was filling in for him on the 11pm newscast. By day we were interns and writers…by night we were tape operators (yes there were still tapes then), teleprompter operators and camera operators!
That fateful night the clock struck 11 and camera 1’s red light went on. We were live. The fill-in anchor read the show open perfectly.
And then…she turned to camera 3 as scripted. Except – there was no script! Eeeek – an anchor’s nightmare – no teleprompter!
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She stumbled and looked down at her paper scripts. She scrambled and bumbled to make it look like nothing was wrong. But it was obvious to her, to the viewers and everyone involved in the production that something went awry.
That night during our “post-mortem” meeting the anchor threw the camera operator right under the bus. It wasn’t pretty. Turns out an intern was on camera 3 that night and forgot to turn on the teleprompter. Boy – did that not go over well.
The next day there was an announcement from our news director. “Everyone must fill out a checklist before operating a studio camera!”?
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As you can imagine – this idea was met with eye rolls and groans. But we did it. Every one of us filled out this form before the show:
These are all very easy things to do. They take literally two seconds each. But it’s easy to get distracted and not do one of them.?
And as we all saw – that can be a disaster. Surgeons and pilots use checklists in their work – so why not add one to your every day tasks to be more efficient?
What activity would a checklist make more effective for you?
(Btw — the intern was not me! But maybe the next time I tell the story I’ll say it’s me – just for dramatic effect!)
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BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.
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