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Billionaire Richard Branson Credits To-Do Lists as a Key to His Success The Virgin founder recently published a a 1972 to-do list from his old diary.

By Rose Leadem

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Larry Busacca | Getty Images
Richard Branson

What's been the simple secret to billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson's success? To-do lists.

That's right, success might just be a pen and paper away. However, it won't happen overnight. In a recent blog post, the Virgin Group founder shared a page from an old diary: a to-do list he wrote on Nov. 6, 1972.

Related: 10 Ways You Can Be More Like Richard Branson

From learning to fly to opening more Virgin Records stores, the list shows 22-year-old Branson's ambitious nature that ultimately drove him to success. And the list even features smaller, simpler tasks as well, such as cleaning up and inviting more people to his record studio The Manor.

Fast forward 45 years and take a look at where Branson is today. He has a net worth of about $5 billion and is the founder of an organization that houses more than 450 companies. It's safe to say Branson is doing more than OK. In part, he thanks to-do lists for this.

Related: Richard Branson: How to Spot an Opportunity

In the blog post, Branson emphasizes his "love of writing lists" and how it started from a young age. "Lists not only provide great structure for getting things done, but they also help us to set goals and achieve our dreams," Branson wrote.

To get you motivated, take a look at Branson's old 1972 to-do list.

Image credit: Virgin Blog
Rose Leadem is a freelance writer for Entrepreneur.com. 

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