Tips For Creating Your " TO DO " List

Most successful people use " TO DO " lists. They rangenfrom the top CEOs of multi-national companies tonentrepreneurs of small businesses. nnBusy housewives and retired workers - anyone who wants tonuse their limited time effectively. nnYou can also use these lists to keep you focusednon what really needs to be done, and keep you away from un-nimportant tasks that have no value. nnThe result - more time to do what you want!nn1. Make It A Daily RecordnnEvery day you should make a " To Do " list. You will findnit invaluable in helping you decide where your prioritiesnlie. nn2. The Nuts and Bolts of Your " TO DO " ListnnWrite down all your outstanding tasks on a sheet of paper,nthen carefully go through deciding if an item is to bengraded as :- nnA. Urgent. nB. Important but not urgent. nC. Not urgent nor important. nnWithin categories A and B it will be necessary for you tonprioritise so the most urgent task becomes A1, then thennext becomes A2 etc. nnSimilarly with the set of tasks you have decided are B. nnThis is not necessary with the C tasks of course. nnSome people prefer to color code the items instead so withnsuch a system the A tasks may be colored red, the B tasksnblue etc. nnYou may choose whatever colors have meaning for you. It nreally is an individual choice. nnn3. Using the " TO DO " ListnnEach morning you must update your "TO DO" list.Bringnforward the A,B,and C items not completed the day before onnto another sheet of paper.nnAdd new items to the lists after considering carefully whereneach new item should go. nnThen review the list and start on the top priorities,ncrossing off each one as it is finished throughout the day. nnSome managers prefer to have separate sheets for each typeni.e. one sheet for the "A" list, another sheet for the "B"nlist etc.nnThat way you know you are working on the mostnurgent tasks from the listing itself because the A listnshould always be on top. nnSo what do you do with the C items? nIf you have staff, then delegate - if not, decide if younare going to complete them or not. nnDispose of all items you decide are not worth doing. nnInstead of re-writing your list each morning annalternative method is to spend the last 15 minutes of yournday on your list so that you can start immediately the nextnday.nn4. How Pareto's Principle May Help YounnPareto was an Italian economist who observed that 20% ofnthe people in Italy owned 80% of the country's wealth. nnThis has been found to have real significance and hasnresulted in the 80/20 Rule. nnBroadly speaking 80% of all results come from 20% of allnefforts. So identify which 20% is the most important andnyou can't help but be more successful. nnnOne word of caution - items on the B list which are notncompleted within a reasonable time scale have a habit ofnsuddenly becoming a major A item! nnI have used a "TO DO" list for many,many years and itnenabled me to keep on top of my responsibilities and enjoy my family life. I sincerely recommend that you use such anlist. nnCopyright ® 2003 Joe McHenry. All rights reserved. Pleasenfeel free to pass this article on to your friends, or use nit in your ezine or newsletter. To find other tips and nadvice visit http://www.tips-for-boomers.com