{"id":42923,"date":"2018-09-11T04:43:42","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T09:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/?p=42923"},"modified":"2018-09-11T04:43:42","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T09:43:42","slug":"check-baby-checklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/check-baby-checklist\/","title":{"rendered":"Check Baby, Checklist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We are a society of list-makers. We gather groups of to-dos and to-don\u2019ts, would-bes and should-bes, and we slap them down on legal pads and post-it notes, fancy journal pages, and stained napkins. Far too often those lists fail to translate to measurable success.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t have to be this way.\u00a0When making lists, a little strategy and intentionality can go a long way. It\u2019s a discipline that far too many of us\u2014especially those of us who the Wall Street Journal says are drowning in lists\u2014are unaware of.<\/p>\n\t\t<aside class=\"tweetable tweetalign_center\" style=\"width:100%\">\n\t\t\t<blockquote>\n\t\t\t\tYou can actually get better at making lists and those lists can help you become a better leader.<cite>Andrea Williams<\/cite>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\t\t\t<ul class=\"actions\">\n\t\t\t\t<li class=\"icon-arrow\"><a class=\"icon-twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?source=tweetbutton&text=You%20can%20actually%20get%20better%20at%20making%20lists%20and%20those%20lists%20can%20help%20you%20become%20a%20better%20leader.%20https%3A%2F%2Ffullfocus.co%2F%3Fp%3D42923&via=michaelhyatt\" title=\"Share Quote on Twitter\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet<span> Quote<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/aside>\n<p>The truth is, you can actually get better at making lists and those lists can help you become a better leader. It starts with making the <em>right<\/em> lists.\u00a0Here are 4 kinds of lists that can greatly aid the decisions you make for your business.<\/p>\n<h3>Checklists<\/h3>\n<p>As the broadest of all list categories, \u201cchecklists\u201d can be populated with any data imaginable. Spencer Smith, a former VP of Sales at two Fortune 100 companies and recent founder of social media marketing firm Ampliphi, recommends a three-step checklist approach to stay on track:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Create a daily checklist that determines what success looks like. \u201cSmall business owners can work 24\/7 since there\u2019s no longer a definition of a proper work day,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Without checklists, small business owners have a very, very hard time of knowing when they\u2019re on-the-clock and when they\u2019re not. Create a realistic daily checklist, and once you\u2019re done, you can allow yourself to leave work feeling great.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Create a not-doing list: \u201cIt forces you to reconcile the best use of your time right now, and by knowing what you\u2019re not doing, you\u2019re telling yourself that the things you are doing are the most important and high-value items. A \u2018not doing\u2019 list also helps assuage that gnawing feeling of &#8216;what am I forgetting?'&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Use the first two checklists to create systems for other team members. \u201cThink to yourself, \u2018If I was a brand-new person working in my business, what would I need to do, step-by-step, to complete this task\/project?\u2019 These step-by-step systems will prevent employee\/contractor issues in the future since they\u2019ll know what\u2019s expected of them,\u201d Smith says.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Like Smith, Helena Escalante, founder of Entregurus, also uses checklists on a daily basis. They are especially important when she is engaging in a repetitive process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnything that I have to repeat more than twice merits a checklist to ensure uniformity in the outcome and quality,\u201d she explains. \u201cThe more familiar you are with any process, the more you tend to become complacent and leave it to memory, but that's when you are more prone to making mistakes. Checklists are wonderful to avoid mistakes because there is no decision-making. You simply follow and check every step, and at the end you will have the result that you set out to achieve initially.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Pros and cons<\/h3>\n<p>In the hierarchy of lists, pros and cons may be just below to-dos in both popularity and ease of use. Most of us have probably been using them all our lives\u2014from making dinner plans to deciding who to play with at recess\u2014even if they were never written down. These lists are just as valuable in the business world.<\/p>\n<p>Lazhar Ichir, founder of the AI-powered content marketing platform Topicseed, says that lists of pros and cons are like \u201cfictional partners\u201d that lend necessary reason and data to his decision-making process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou need to be at peace with criticizing your own \u2018genius ideas\u2019 and tearing them apart after thinking them through,\u201d Ichir says. \u201cHaving cons does not mean the initial thought is not worth pursuing. Instead, cons allow you to be prepared once you start working on whatever it is that you have in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While relatively straightforward in design, Nate Masterson, CEO of Maple Holistics, argues that the most effective pros and cons lists don\u2019t just reflect the obvious positive and negative aspects of a project or decision. They should also reflect the values and future vision of the company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLongevity is probably the most important factor to consider when you face a decision\u2014tough or otherwise,\u201d says Masterson. \u201cWhen you make your pros and cons list, every factor of the decision should be filtered through longevity and values; if represented this way you can only make the best possible decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Workflows<\/h3>\n<p>If the goal of most businesses is to be as efficient as possible\u2014to work smarter, not harder\u2014it stands to reason that those businesses should be tracking how their work is actually done.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMapping workflows are critical in finding choke points and areas of inefficiency,\u201d says business consultant Aaron Pfeifer. \u201cWhen I work with organizations to optimize their operations, I insist on sitting with a person from each position within a workflow to understand not just the overall process, but the minutiae that can derail a process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Members of a team generally have a verbal understanding of their related workflows, whether their role is to publish blog content or process retail orders. But, says Pfeifer, writing them down often uncovers inefficiencies that can significantly impact operations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOften, we'll find out that people are using workarounds for a broken system, duplicating data input, or waiting on a single person to approve work before it can continue,\u201d he says. \u201cAny delay in workflows results not only in delayed billing, but it increases employee frustration, mistakes, and upset customers\u2014risking future opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Louisiana-based business consultant Connelly Hayward is also a staunch advocate for developing workflows, noting that they \u201copen up and enhance big picture thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt allows everyone to see everything and prepare for seasonality, specifically the busy season,\u201d Hayward explains. \u201cWhen things get busy, where are problems likely to happen? What will be the nature of those problems? What can we do now to prevent those problems? If we can\u2019t prevent them, what can we do to be best prepared to solve them when they do happen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hayward also offers guidance on how to develop worfklow lists, suggesting that starting from the beginning may not be the best strategy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy advice, pick something and work backwards and forwards from there,\u201d he says. \u201cThe process is basic and straightforward: We are at X, what does having X create\/cause? Once we are at X, what is the very next thing that happens? What had to have happened for X to happen? What is the very last event\/task before we have X? Many clients are surprised to discover that what they thought was the beginning point actually wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Prioritized vendors<\/h3>\n<p>As the founder and CEO of IndustryStar Solutions, a supply chain services and software company that helps organizations launch new products, Williams Crane helps his customers develop lists of vendors who can provide various capabilities or materials. His company also develops an internal Tracked Suppliers list that rates vendors on their performance across several metrics (cost, quality, service, and delivery) and assigns each supplier a status of \u201cpreferred\u201d or \u201cno source.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is important to develop a scoring system for your vendors that will allow you and your team to communicate ratings and rankings,\u201d Crane explains. \u201cFor example, if an organization\u2019s goal is to optimize buffer stock levels to reduce inventory costs, it should track suppliers with quality or delivery issues and long lead times to reduce the impact of delayed and missed shipments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Developing a list of prioritized vendors is a nuanced, multi-step process. For Crane, it\u2019s also one that ensures his company is able to best meet its own needs and those of its clients. He says the list is always in flux\u2014growing, shrinking, and otherwise evolving based on the most current information available.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEstablished companies with [prioritized vendor] lists often find that continuous maintenance\u2014removing under-performing suppliers and adding new ones\u2014is a key enabler for maintaining their supply bases,\u201d Crane says. \u201cModern cloud software tools enable professionals to automate the process of identifying and qualifying suppliers and free up time to focus on engaging suppliers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are a society of list-makers. We gather groups of to-dos and to-don\u2019ts, would-bes and should-bes, and we slap them down on legal pads and post-it notes, fancy journal pages, and stained napkins. Far too often those lists fail to translate to measurable success. It doesn\u2019t have to be this way.\u00a0When making lists, a little [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":42938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,29],"tags":[443,444,445],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Check Baby, Checklist | Full Focus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/check-baby-checklist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Check Baby, Checklist | Full Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We are a society of list-makers. 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