No, not that kind.
But what makes movie hitmen so effective is their singular focus on what they need to do. They are not distracted; nothing will stop them from their goal. They make it happen.
Hitlists, or checklists, are something that I learned from flying. Pilots have many checklists for almost everything they do, including going to the bathroom. While folks can memorize the checklists or they become second nature out of repetition, there is a reason why they use them every time. When pilots get lazy, stop using their checklist, or just outright ignore them, they will forget something. That one little something that will result in an unplanned landing (i.e. crashing the plane). My friend Ron did that all the time until he forgot the fuel tank selector. He made it to 300 feet in the air and ran out of gas. While he miraculously survived, no one saw him crash, and he had to walk back to the airport. That airport Ron crashed at was next door to the airport where John Denver lost his life for the same exact situation.
Like pilots, running your life with checklists is not a natural human act. It is pretty darn hard to do. Actually, it is extremely hard to run this way. Who wants to have a checklist? Who wants to be reminded that they are behind on payments, rent, fixing the drain, etc. Honey-do lists have ruined many marriages.
A Super Power Habit.
This is a habit that will make you stronger, smarter, and richer. It is the only way you will get those things on that Vision Board. And how badly do you want those things on your vision board? Or are you going to listen to the whining little voice that is stopping you from getting everything you deserve?
There is plenty of content on Youtube and Podcasts about checklists (The Heavy Checklist and MFCEO Project). The easiest way of getting started on running your life with checklists is to start small, 3 things you need to do today. Anything. Simple things. Write it down on a piece of paper. Then do them. Don’t write down more than 3. Don’t make them impossible to do. Keep them simple. We are trying to form a habit. A habit that is rewarding through accomplishing it. Because in a week, those 3 things a day add up to 21 things you got accomplished this week. When you look back at the week, you will feel pretty darn good that you accomplished 21 things, no matter how small they are. How many accomplishments did you have last week? 21? 1?
Hitlists at Hefe.
We use checklists every day at Hefe. Our favorite tool is Asana.com. We use it religiously, every day, all day. It feels good looking at it because it reminds us that we are winning everyday. Here is a screen cap of our Asana in action.
This app was created by the co-founder of Facebook, modeled after how Facebook runs things internally. Sure, some of you may have a beef with Facebook, but it doesn’t change the fact that this tool works pretty darn well. And it is free with no gimmicks for individuals.
Epic Personal Stress Relief.
On my phone, I have the Asana app for all my personal to-dos. It is very magical. Before, I struggled with keeping track of the millions of todos in my life. Having to remember them is more than kind of stressful; it can be debilitating. What was I supposed to do? Who did I commit something to? When? It is so easy to forget things. I can’t tell you how many thousands of dollars I lost because of late fees. Worse was those huge government contracts where I missed the submission dates by a couple of hours. Try explaining that to your team, who just spent weeks preparing the proposal.
Forming that habit of taking a couple of seconds to type in a to-do is so freeing for the mind. I don’t need to remember anything and I haven’t paid a late fee since adopting it. And it is free. Sure, there are other tools and methods out there too. It is a personal choice. The idea here is to develop habits that will make you successful.
Just do it. Next up is the Retro 168.