#ask-ih Do any of you use a checklist for keeping yourself on track as a founder?

Kind of - I do 3-3-3...

• 3 most important goals for the month, broken down into
• 3 most important goals for the week, broken down into
• 3 most important tasks for the day

I'm really strict on achieving monthly/weekly/daily goal #1.

So much so, that I don't move on to tasks 2-3 unless I am satisfied with my progress towards goal #1. All goals are quantified where possible.

Not quite as meta as what you're looking for though.

I find the hardest part of being a founder is only doing the 2-3 really important things really well, and ignoring all of the other fun/seems-like-progress/urgent-but-not-important tasks which pop up incessantly.

YMMV but this works really well for me as an antidote to that.

Retrospective moment: a 2-4 hour block that you plan each month to see the 3 biggest hurdles, the 3 best feedback interactions, 3 things to celebrate.

Allows you to be critical, learn from where you've been and lets​ you celebrate the small successes (and turn it into a positive thing like a blog post, process improvement, etc)

Not sure I've really figure this out yet either. Still experimenting. I'd like to echo the sentiment of systems - that's what I'm focusing on over the next couple months.

What do you think of : https://www.notion.so

Lots of points that we miss when we are actually in that zone. Please make a checklist @csallen

Thanks.

You've all covered the high level and business stuff so I thought I'd share the checklists I use checklists to take care of me - I am the riskiest fail point in my business so it's important.
Maybe you have some version of this or you do it anyway. Take this as a reminder to take care of you. And I would definitely recommend making self-care explicit. You would be surprised what slips through the cracks.

Shut down routine:

• Plan tomorrow based on my weekly plan, what I didn't get done today, the calendar, and a quick glance at the task list
• Set up to 3 most important tasks

Startup routine:

• Review vision - reminds me what I'm after and sets the table for good decision-making across the day
• Review day - sometimes I'll adjust last night's plan after a good sleep
• Key yesterday's outcomes (it's nice to start the day by finishing and celebrating yesterday)
• Share my most important task with an accountability crew
• Confirm all of tomorrow's meetings
• Review anything I'm waiting on and follow up if necessary

Across the day checklist:

• In bed for 7.5+ hours
• Made bed
• Worked out
• Inbox zeroed or 30 minutes of email - I have the kind of brain that thinks I'm missing out on stuff if I haven't checked the things so this is important. I wish it didn't have to be
• Ate 3 meals

I rely on checklists! Working full-but-flexible time for my employer and the rest on my own project, I like to have certain things I accomplish for each daily & weekly. I have a combined checklist of the most important things to do for each job and a separate list for low priority tasks for each. I insist on completing all the priority items before doing any low priority every day. Usually the low priority are also more menial and I can do them toward the end of the day when I'm not at the top of my game.
In 2019 I added intentionally focusing on learning a topic each week and attending an industry event or meetup each week and this is helping me get ideas and think big picture.

Good checklist. I need a weekly checklist item to spend a few minutes to think strategically like this. Too easy to stay head down in the weeds.

There's a great book called "The checklist manifesto", it's worth a read. It will definitely convince you of the power and necessity of checklists for everything important that you do. Well it convinced me anyway.

Here's a short video summary of the book to give you a flavour (you can skip the first minute, it get's better after that). https://youtu.be/18ns58FyPmY

It's easy to get caught up focusing on code and product, so I use daily reminders (that must be checked off) for marketing set on my phone at different points in the day that repeat on a weekly basis.

Every day:

• Talk with two Users
• Engage on Discord
• Post one comic to different communities (Reddit, Instagram, 9Gag, etc.)

I also have reminders set for making different use of my Instagram story depending on the day of the week

• Announce Weekly Drawing Theme (Monday)
• Promote Blog & Premium Membership (Tuesday)
• Ask an art related question (Wednesday)
• Give art advice (Thursday)
• Weekend Poll (Friday)
• Promote Blog & Premium Membership (Saturday)
• Shoutout Top Artist (Sunday)

Weekly:

• Email new premium members for their thoughts
• Follow up with those members who did not respond the week prior.

Once a month:

• Publish Newsletter
• Announce Live Voice Chat
• Attend Live Voice Chat

Using reminders is fairly new for me, but I've found it has greatly improved my consistency by reducing the 'thinking' I have to do each day to stay engaged. As a bonus, it's caused me to perform more than just what's reminded, too.