Jeanie Grimm, College Consultant

I am a checklist person. I have been for decades. All days, my list includes tasks to accomplish. It also includes things I have worked hard to make a daily habit, like working out. Some days, when I am either feeling exhausted or overwhelmed, my list might include something so obvious, it seems ridiculous to write it down and check it off. But on a hard day, checking off “Get out of bed” can be just what the doctor ordered: a tiny piece of satisfaction and the reassurance that I can do hard things. 

Sometimes my list shows my frustration, but it also holds me accountable. I have to write a graduation speech every year in my role as president of our Board of Education. It is my least favorite thing to do (and I’ve had a lot of root canals!). My list starts with, “Write speech” and over time morphs to, “Write speech, you fool,” and eventually becomes, “WRITE SPEECH NOW. TODAY.” If that doesn’t work, I break it down: “Write down three speech ideas” in order to help me manage the gargantuan task as well as my own anxiety about it.

My husband is a surgeon. He does really hard things:) Years ago, he recommended a book to me, written by a surgeon, that gave me great insight into the way he works and his philosophy about getting things done: clear task-oriented systems work. In fact, decades ago when he began working in a new healthcare system, he brought with him a procedure from his previous teaching hospital for clearing a patient for surgery, which included the surgeon signing the body part that was scheduled to be operated on. The thinking was that life is so complex, and moves so quickly, and involves so many people…and humans are fallible. Checklists leave nothing to chance or to our imperfect memories. I read the book and loved it, especially because it included fascinating real life examples, across multiple industries. 

After reading the book The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by Atul Gawande, I started asking my students this question: How do you keep track of tasks you need to accomplish? The answers were telling. About one quarter of my students used a system, either a journal or an app, to track their assignments. About one quarter said they “just remembered” what they needed to do (and in our work together, it was clear they did not, even with email summaries of things to do following each meeting). About half had either no idea or had some really unusual response, my favorite being one student who used (“old,” she assured me) lipstick to write important things to do on her bathroom mirror.

Checklists work. 

Whether you are a freshman with a busier schedule and forming goals, a sophomore charting out a testing, summer engagement, and college hopes plan, a junior planning visits and strengthening your profile, or a senior about to launch to college, you have a lot of things to do! Daily checklists provide a way to “chunk” the work, to break down large or complex assignments into manageable tasks or pieces in order to avoid cognitive overload and unhealthy stress. Taking, or tackling, things one step at a time can be motivating and puts achievement and success in reach!

Many libraries carry this terrific book…but I bought a copy, because it is that good.