Mind Dump & Says Who

Your To Do List

What do you put on your list of things to do today?

1. Mind Dump & Says Who

I know you have many obligations to many others, including family, job, maintaining your residence, taking care of yourself. You probably don’t even remember all of the things you do. Do a mind-dump. Write them all down. If you can, list them in a spreadsheet, and in the column to the left of the list of items, put the name of the person or organization you are doing this for. If you are sure you are doing something just for yourself, then put your own name down.

2. Now do a best-case scenario

Pretend you have all the time, health, money and opportunity in the world and make a list of all the things you really want to do. Everything you can think of, from eating ice cream for dinner to taking a cruise around the world. You don’t have to do everything on your list. It does feel good to honor yourself enough to acknowledge your desires and put those on the list along with taking out the garbage and making your bed.

3. Vision

Does every item on your list have a person or organization or goal in the column to the left of it? Create another column on the left and think again about your vision that gets your juices going every morning. Put a number or a word in that column for each item indicating how closely that task aligns with your vision. This is more of a feeling exercise than an intellectual exercise, because your filters are probably geared more toward what you've always done in the past than what is possible in the future. You can always go back and change things later. For now just take your first gut reaction.

4. Priority

You knew this was coming. Make one more column to the left and put a priority on each one: A is most important, D least important, and Z something you don’t want to even think about for now. You can add A1, A2, D3, etc., whatever makes sense to you. Create a key if it helps you remember later what you had in mind.

What it Means

This all just gives you good food for thought. In a spreadsheet you can sort by any column. Sort by the “Priority” column and then look at the “Vision” and “Says Who” columns. Are some people or organizations in your life already more closely aligned with your vision?

Just take some time to look over your list from different points of view, and see what you can learn about yourself and your life.

You might feel very motivated and ready to make a big personal improvement list. I'll be happy if you just choose one or two things to improve. Here is what Marshall Goldsmith tells his clients to ask themselves:

Best wishes,

Marilyn McLeod
Marilyn@PersonalizedHealthCoach.com

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