Every Sunday, John Madden creates a to-do list for the upcoming
week. The co-founder of Contemporary Audio in Okemos, Michigan, jots
down a dozen or so items-everything from attending a networking
event to creating outlines for projects, such as a new brochure for
the 11-employee audio and home entertainment products retailer.
"Every morning," Madden adds, "I write down a
half-dozen things based on my weekly plans." These include
to-dos on weekly projects and to-dos he didn't get to the day
before. "I feel good if I can get 50 percent of my list
done," he says.
Other entrepreneurs tell similar stories about to-dos, according
to a survey last year of 2,000 mostly small-company executives by
NFI
Research of North Hampton, New Hampshire. "About
everybody-95 percent-keeps a list of things to do," says Chuck
Martin, CEO and chair of NFI and author of Managing for the Short Term: The New Rules for
Running a Business in a Day-to-Day World. "The
overwhelming majority have six to 20 items on their lists. And less
than 1 percent get everything done on the list every day."
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Madden uses Microsoft Outlook and a FranklinCovey day planner to
create and manage his lists. Other listers employ handheld
computers, paper notebooks and crumpled memo slips carried in
pockets, says Martin. One even put sticky notes all over the screen
of an unused PC, he adds. Some use daily lists, others weekly
lists, still others weekly rolling lists like Madden's, where
uncompleted tasks carry over to the next day.
Technology doesn't matter, says Martin, but technique does.
He recommends entrepreneurs employ not one but two to-do lists. The
master list contains a maximum of three items of long-term
importance. These might be "grow sales" or "get new
customers." The second list, Martin explains, contains
day-to-day to-dos that represent tactical steps to completing those
strategic to-dos.
All entrepreneurs should keep to-do lists, according to David
Allen, a productivity consultant and author of Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for
Work & Life. Says Allen, "It's especially
critical to make sure you keep your eye on the big picture but
don't lose the detail."
Allen likes to use a Palm handheld to manage his list. He
categorizes all items, tagging them as projects, phone calls,
errands, agenda items, work to be done at his computer or desk,
things he can do anywhere, and items that aren't urgent. This
approach allows him to quickly identify, for instance, a phone call
he can make while waiting for a plane or an item to pick up while
he's out and about.
What's most important, says Allen, is to review your list
items frequently to see if they are listed correctly and should be
there to begin with. "Most people just write stuff down,
aren't clear about it and aren't committed to it,"
Allen says. "You haven't made decisions about it,
you've just reminded yourself of it."
Reviewing also involves making sure that a to-do you've
listed as an errand isn't really a call. Working over your list
in advance daily and weekly means that, when you consult your list,
you don't have to rethink your commitment and your plan right
then, he says. Allen says what lies behind people's discomfort
with to-do lists is feeling like they're obstacles. He says,
"You should be energized and thinking you can't wait to
see what you can cross off next."
For entrepreneurs like Madden, crossing off to-dos is critical
to managing his business. "I have no control over a lot of
things," he says. "But this is one thing I have control
over. And the better I am at that, the better our business
operates."
Mark Henricks writes on business and technology for leading
publications and is author of Not Just a Living.