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Becoming a Self-Manager

What is a Wellness Checklist?

Updated Aug 7, 2019

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Your Wellness Checklist helps you keep track of and stay accountable to using your self-management strategies. These can be strategies you learned from MyGuide: Concussion, from health care providers, or helpful strategies you developed yourself. Staying accountable to your own plans and using your strategies consistently can enhance your concussion recovery.

Throughout your journey on MyGuide: Concussion, please consider whether you want to add your new habits and skills to the “Wellness Checklist”.

Wellness checklist

A Reminder about Wellness Checklist

As a reminder, Action Plans are the tool to use to help you to get started with taking action and implementing your self management strategies. And, the Wellness Checklist is a summary of the self management strategies that are most helpful to you, and that you want to stay accountable to using.

If you have not yet reviewed the article on Action Plans please review this article first. Also, if you just started to make Action Plans, you may want to give yourself a few weeks of working on your Action Plans before creating your Wellness Checklist. This will give you time to figure out what are your key self management strategies to add to your personalized Wellness Checklist. A useful tip is to ask yourself, “what are the most important things for me to do on a regular basis to be well?”. Again, these can be things you have learned from this guide, your health care professionals, and things you have learned work for you to be well.

Create a Wellness Checklist

Before we start, download this blank Wellness Checklist template [pdf].

Ready? Now let’s begin!

Take these steps to create your Wellness Checklist using the blank form provided:

  1. Think about the action plans and self management strategies that have been the most helpful to you, and that you want to stay accountable to using to improve your health. Ask yourself, “what are the key things you need to do (routinely) to be well? For example, maybe it’s getting adequate sleep; eating 3 meals a day; taking regular brain breaks; pacing and using your day planner; exercising 3 times per week; and using calm breathing techniques to manage stress. Then think about a heading for each wellness category.
  2. Write down these headings on the blank wellness checklist. Using the example above, the headings could be: sleep; nutrition; brain breaks; pacing and organization; exercise; and stress management.
  3. Write down the actions and self management strategies you want to take routinely in each of these wellness areas. It’s important to use the SMART principles (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely). Instead of “exercise more,” a SMART action would be “use my stationary bike for 15 minutes, on level 2, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday”.

Take a moment and check out this sample completed Wellness Checklist. [pdf]

Tips on Using Your Wellness Checklist

Post your Wellness Checklist somewhere you can see regularly and review it at least 1-2 times per week. Consider giving yourself a check mark for being successful with your wellness item for the entire week.

It may also be helpful to share your Wellness Checklist with a friend or family member to assist you to stay accountable to using your self management strategies.

Take Action!

If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to print out this a blank Wellness Checklist [pdf] and create one for yourself.

Take action
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