Why You Should Trade Your To-do List for a Checklist.

As a professional coach, it’s not uncommon to hear a client express regret in some aspect of their life. In my experience, around the age of 44, an unimpressive career, a stale marriage, strained relationships, failed ventures, poor health and roads not chosen seem to carry extra weight. In the US alone, 70% of people are disengaged at work, 71% are overweight or obese, 18% are dealing with some form of anxiety or depression and divorce rates sit uncomfortably just below 50%. These sobering stats don’t suggest that people have merely taken their eyes off the road, they suggest we’ve been asleep at the wheel completely.

It might be easy to attribute these alarming stats to the lazy, sad, self-absorbed or non-contributing individuals of society, but the math doesn’t add up, the percentages are simply too high. So what gives? How can the human spirit with all its amazing potential, be reduced, statistically speaking, to a shade of mediocrity? Or, perhaps these stats are the result of unavoidable tradeoffs. Is it possible our plagues are the bi-product of ambitious energy being rerouted to grander pursuits? Is the fee for a successful career the sacrifice of health, marriage or mental stability? It’s hard even to articulate that thought in a way that sounds believable.

The Culprit

When I press clients about their current level of performance in these areas, their response is often some version of “I’m too busy”. Since our typical client is an already high achieving individual, executive, or business owner we know they are busy. The problem is the process through which they attempt to organize and prioritize all they have on their plate. Dig into a high achievers “busy” and you’ll inevitably find a to-do list. A list of tasks typically associated with short term objectives and prioritized by a level of urgency and volume of demand.

It’s not uncommon to find tasks associated with the struggle areas above sprinkled throughout the list. Go to the gym, spend time with the kids, read a book, go on a date, etc. Yet, in the frenetic pace of real life, they are the first to be deprioritized. This, ironically, is because the impact of this reprioritization usually only hurts the individual, and or those they love. “They’ll understand”, “I’ll make it up to you” and “It’s just until…” is the repetitive anthem of the to-do lister. To successfully avoid the aforementioned plagues you’ll have to take back control of your time and grip the wheel with sincere intention focused on long-term goals.

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