Turn your To-Do's into Ta-Da's

Staying on top of a To-Do list is exhausting. I’ve spent years trying to figure out the perfect approach, using all sorts of apps, notebooks and email flags along the way.

While I had a handy list of things I needed to do, I didn’t have an answer when a mentor one day asked where my list of successes was.

She calld it a “Ta-Da!” list.

The idea is simple:

• As you complete items off your list, you track successes that happened along the way. Did you get praise from an executive? Did someone highlight your work online? Did your work help the company beat goals? Write it down.

I keep a copy of my Ta-Da list next to the latest version of my resume, which I also keep updated.

Why this is a good idea:

• It consolidates. You have a consistent place you can go for helpful information.
• It gets you more comfortable with promoting your work. I try to include a sentence about whatever the win is that I could copy-paste to an email or resume or cover letter. That process helps me prepare for when I need to confidently use it as a datapoint.
• It positions you as results-oriented. You’re ahead of the game if you’re tracking wins, but then being able to use that knowledge in key conversations with mentors and bosses shows that you are thinking about the whole organization, not just the day-to-day.