No matter how stupid and simple it may seem, the to-do list is one of the most important elements of running a business. This is because you need to train yourself to bring results, instead of finding excuses all day to keep yourself busy. Results are the cornerstone of the Elegant Business.
And when I talk about a to-do list, I mean a plain old list on a piece of paper. Forget digital calendars, forget Blackberries. You need a piece of paper that you can keep in your pocket. Digital reminders and organizational aids are useless. You forget to check them, and they don’t feel tangible enough.
Get a small notebook, or a pocket agenda or anything that suits you that you can scribble on.
Then, every workday, write down the things you want to do or have to do. Once you have your chores written down, go through the list and underline the ones that have to be done the next day. Things like payments, deadlines, calls, whatever needs to be done very soon. Also, underline the tasks you consider important. The tasks that if were the only ones done that day, you would be satisfied with a good day’s work.
Try to remember this: a to-do list is not a long-term organizational chart. If it is not in the next few days, then it doesn’t belong on the list.
Then comes the next step. Go through the list once again, and find which jobs can be assigned to others. It will seem hard at first, because it is hard to let go of the control and give important tasks to others, but you will see the benefit very fast. Don’t be afraid to assign tasks to your friends and family. Beg them, hire them, blackmail them, whatever it takes. Maybe your brother can add that bank transaction to his daily chores, or maybe that nephew can do the javascript job. Once you train yourself to think that way, you will find that you will have more and more people to outsource to. And I bet you will be shocked with how many things you can do in a single day once you have a proper network of friends and colleagues.
Then, go out and start doing the tasks in your to-do list.
When the to-do list becomes a rag, write a new one, while moving over the unfinished business from the old one.
Let’s recap.
- Grab a piece of paper.
- Write your to-do list.
- Underline the important stuff.
- Outsource as much as you can.
- Do the tasks, strike them out as you complete them.
- Write a new to-do list the next day.
I know some people will laugh at this, that this advice is too simple, too plain, too banal. But I have seen how this mindframe improves my productivity, so here it is for you. No one said that important stuff should be complicated.
Now go get a piece of paper.
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