My to-do list

Colleagues,

​The June 8th email described how I could lose focus on a task I wasn’t thrilled about doing. Longtime reader and friend, Nat Ellis, shared some thoughts:

I rely on a list. If I don't write it down, it will most likely not get completed.  For our weekly small staff meetings, I started using an outline bullet list that has check marks.  This allows me to track all the work I completed if someone asks. We have running meeting notes, and I copied and paste my list from the previous week and added to it throughout the meeting. 

Lists can work well, and tracking bullet pointed tasks from meetings is critical. The caveat is that a list isn’t enough. It needs to be organized according to priority.

The image here is my to-do list for June 16. You may notice this is also my calendar. Yes, my calendar is my to-do list, so everything needs to be scheduled to get done. The advantage of this, over a sticky note or list, is that I am accountable, and if I don’t have time to add something new it is obvious.

If you have questions or reactions I’d love to hear them. Maybe this is worth a couple more days? I don’t know, you tell me 😉.

Cheers!

Frederick