To learn lists, blogs and reflective practice

Returning to a thought provoked by Tony Karrer's Big Question last month on to learn lists, there is a huge distance between understanding and action. A point which Marshall Goldsmith (see earlier posts) addressed in his book and I didn't make the connection.

A list only works for certain people because you can excuse your commitment to a list. Making a commitment in a blog is one step up from this because you are publishing the list. But this depends on whether anyone is reading.

Marshall suggests that you get a personal coach to ring you up at the end of each day and ask you a list of pre-agreed questions. His examples are, "Are you Happy?", "How many push ups and sits ups did you do today?", "Did you eat any high fat foods?" etc etc.

The simple fact of having a person remind you of your commitment significantly increases your likelihood of change.

In the meantime I have managed to cross one more off my list for the year, having passed my motorbike test on Thursday. One thing is clear, once you get out of the habit of taking tests your ability goes down hill fast. I havent been that nervous in years!