At my first job out of college, a colleague gave me an invaluable tip. Our boss ended each day by writing a list of things he wanted to check in with us about the following day to make sure we were on track with our work. He’d leave that list on his desk as he departed the office. If you were willing to stay an hour or two later, you could check the list, note anything you’d forgotten to do, and take care of it before he came back the next day.
Two things happened as a result of this sneaky but effective habit.
- He started to assume that we didn’t need to be micromanaged.
- We got better at anticipating the very things he shouldn’t have had to ask us about in the first place.
Students, you probably know your parent a lot better than I knew my boss. My guess is that you can already anticipate what items are on their list to ask you about. The more often you do them without your parent having to ask, the less likely they’ll keep asking in the future.