Just "To-Do" It Having trouble getting organized? Start by getting a grip on your to-do list.

Every Sunday, John Madden creates a to-do list for the upcomingweek. The co-founder of Contemporary Audio in Okemos, Michigan, jotsdown a dozen or so items-everything from attending a networkingevent to creating outlines for projects, such as a new brochure forthe 11-employee audio and home entertainment products retailer.

"Every morning," Madden adds, "I write down ahalf-dozen things based on my weekly plans." These includeto-dos on weekly projects and to-dos he didn't get to the daybefore. "I feel good if I can get 50 percent of my listdone," he says.

Other entrepreneurs tell similar stories about to-dos, accordingto a survey last year of 2,000 mostly small-company executives byNFIResearch of North Hampton, New Hampshire. "Abouteverybody-95 percent-keeps a list of things to do," says ChuckMartin, CEO and chair of NFI and author of Managing for the Short Term: The New Rules forRunning a Business in a Day-to-Day World. "Theoverwhelming majority have six to 20 items on their lists. And lessthan 1 percent get everything done on the list every day."

Madden uses Microsoft Outlook and a FranklinCovey day planner tocreate and manage his lists. Other listers employ handheldcomputers, paper notebooks and crumpled memo slips carried inpockets, says Martin. One even put sticky notes all over the screenof an unused PC, he adds. Some use daily lists, others weeklylists, still others weekly rolling lists like Madden's, whereuncompleted 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. Themaster list contains a maximum of three items of long-termimportance. These might be "grow sales" or "get newcustomers." The second list, Martin explains, containsday-to-day to-dos that represent tactical steps to completing thosestrategic to-dos.

All entrepreneurs should keep to-do lists, according to DavidAllen, a productivity consultant and author of Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles forWork & Life. Says Allen, "It's especiallycritical to make sure you keep your eye on the big picture butdon't lose the detail."

Allen likes to use a Palm handheld to manage his list. Hecategorizes 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. Thisapproach allows him to quickly identify, for instance, a phone callhe can make while waiting for a plane or an item to pick up whilehe's out and about.

What's most important, says Allen, is to review your listitems frequently to see if they are listed correctly and should bethere 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'velisted as an errand isn't really a call. Working over your listin advance daily and weekly means that, when you consult your list,you don't have to rethink your commitment and your plan rightthen, he says. Allen says what lies behind people's discomfortwith to-do lists is feeling like they're obstacles. He says,"You should be energized and thinking you can't wait tosee what you can cross off next."

For entrepreneurs like Madden, crossing off to-dos is criticalto managing his business. "I have no control over a lot ofthings," he says. "But this is one thing I have controlover. And the better I am at that, the better our businessoperates."

Mark Henricks writes on business and technology for leadingpublications and is author of Not Just a Living.