How Do You Make To-Do Lists?

One day during a group coaching session the topic of list making came up. It was interesting to see that some of the people made to-do lists daily and others never worked off of a list. It occurred to me that perhaps I should write a post about how to make a to-do list that works for you.

There are many different ways to make to-do lists. One of the most popular ones comes with an interesting story, which took place almost 100 years ago. The story is that the CEO of a large corporation advertised for an efficiency expert. A man answered the ad and met with the CEO. The CEO expected a long strategy planning session but the man handed him a single piece of paper that had the following written on it:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

The man said, "Every night at the end of your business day, fill in the 6 top priorities of what needs to be done the next day. Then the next day start with number one on the list and work on it until either you finish it, or you can't go any further with it. Then start on number two, and so on. If you don't get everything done on the list during that day, transfer what didn't get done to the next day's list. Try this for a week or two and if it improves the efficiency of your company you can send me a check for whatever you think this information is worth to you."

A few weeks later the man received a check for $10,000 and a note from the CEO saying that it was the most useful bit of information he had acquired for his business to date. He had already improved his company's productivity by a wide margin just by doing the six most important things on his list first. Keep in mind that $10,000 90+ years ago is worth ten to twenty times that now. But that CEO volunteered that amount because the method proved to be so valuable to him and his company.

So I'd like to suggest that you try this method of making a to do list from one of the great efficiency experts of the past and see how timeless this simple technique really is. It combines prioritizing with simplicity. When you have a to-do list with 20 items on it, the task of even knowing where to start can be daunting. By only having six things on the list, it makes it look a lot easier to tackle.

Of course, if you complete all six items and still have some day left, you can make a new list. That way you feel like you are keeping your head above water.

This method also forces you to decide what activities or tasks are the most important. You can only list the top six. Learning how to prioritize is the only way to keep your business running at an efficient pace.

Just try this method for yourself and see if it doesn't make working on a to-do list easier and simpler.