Throw away your to-do list and do this instead

A friend sent me an article last week that talked about why he (the author, not the friend) didn’t use a to-do list anymore.

I’d seen the article before and others like it.

It’s actually less about not using to-do lists and more about why the way he was using a to-do list wasn’t working for him.

But more importantly, it reminded me that when I talk about to-do lists I might be thinking of something different than you are.

For you, a to-do list might be

  • The list of everything that you need to or want to get done
  • The place where you write everything that you need to get done for other people
  • Your list of tasks, phone calls, goals, reminders, and appointments that are coming up
  • The list of things you plan to get done if today is the perfect day with no interruptions or unexpected side tracks AND if you can get 12 hours of work done in 7 or less!
  • Something that you avoid like the plague because it makes you feel sick to your stomach when you create it or look at it

Well then, of course, to-do lists are the spawn of Satan!

Go ahead and stop using that to-do list.

Seriously. It’s not helping you.

When I talk about my to-do list it’s the things I’ve decided I’m going to do today.

It’s based off my weekly to-do list which comes from my goals and intentions for the month and the things that I do on a regular basis to make my business and day run.

A book I recently read referred to this as a “will-do list”. It’s the list of thing you will do today.

Here are two suggestions about how to create your own will-do list for tomorrow:

  • Decide 2-3 things (not projects) that you’ll complete tomorrow and write them down.
  • Look at how much time you have to work tomorrow and divide it by 2. Write down the tasks that you know you can complete in that amount of time.
    Example: Let’s say you have from 9-3 with an hour for lunch to work. That’s 2.5 hours worth of tasks (9-3 is 6 hours. 6 hours minus 1 hour for lunch is 5. And 5 divided by 2 is 2.5).

Try it for a week and see what happens.

I talk about this topic in the video below.

Productivity for Solopreneurs: Insights to getting things done #97