How can I reduce my to-do list?

May 17, 2011

How many to-do lists do you have? Do you have one for home, work, community, etc.? How long are they? Are you moving items continually to the next day?

When someone in your meeting says, “Who can do this?” do you respond in the affirmative? Later, do you not only wish you had not raised your hand, do you wish you could burn your entire to-do list?

Try putting all the items on your to-do lists onto your schedule. If they don’t fit, you know they will never be completed. Be ruthless about what items to eliminate or reassign and, in the future, bring your schedule with you to meetings. You’ll be less likely to make promises you can’t keep.

The more to-do lists you have and the longer they are, the more likely you are becoming a bottleneck to others—and yourself.

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