Why To-Do Lists Work
Are you using to-do lists throughout your day? If not, you may be missing out on one of the post powerful productivity tools out there. It doesn’t matter if you use the old-fashioned notebook and pen, or a to-do list app on your phone. There are three reasons why they work so well when it comes to keeping you productive all day long.
To-Do Lists Make You Plan
When you sit down to make out your to-do list you’re forced to plan your day. You’re taking a look at everything you’re working on and deciding what you need to take care of today and in what order.
Depending on how you make out your list, you may even think about what items on your list have the highest priority. The simple task of making the list makes you work out a lot of things in your head ahead of time. This alone will help you stay more productive throughout your day.
To-Do Lists Keep You Focused
Having that list in front of you, or next to you as you work away will help you stay focused on what you need to work on and accomplish throughout your busy day. We are all dealing with distractions. Its easy to lose focus and get sucked into meaningless tasks and conversations.
With your list you know at a glance what you should be working on and if you make yourself get into the habit of not calling it a day until each item on your list is taken care of, youre less likely to allow those distractions to take over a big chunks of your day.
To-Do Lists Give You A Feeling Of Accomplishment
Checking of an item on your to-do list gives you a sense of accomplishment. For some this is more effective when they can cross something of a piece of paper. For others, clicking the little check mark on the app does the trick. Try them both and see what works best for you.
Take a moment to appreciate how much youve gotten done each time you check an item of the list. Then use that feeling of accomplishment to power you through the next item. Rinse and repeat and before you know it, youve made it through another highly productive day.
If you’re not in the habit of using daily to-do lists yet, I hope this encourages you to give it a serious try. Make a list of five things you want to get done before you call it a night today. See how that goes and then get in the habit of working from a daily list starting tomorrow morning.
Connect Your To-Do List to Your Strategic Plan
When creating your To-Do list — make sure that it is connected to your BIG strategies for growth. Yes, it will help you stay focused but your strategic plan outlines the things that you NEED to stay focused on. To-Do lists are the small actions that move big strategies forward. You can build your To-Do from your strategic plan. If you completed the strategic planning lesson in Bizology, you will remember breaking down the strategies. Usually every strategic goal can be broken down into an action plan. This becomes your To-Do list!! If the strategic goal is actually a TO-DO then it is NOT a strategic goal.
Create a To-Do List as Your Daily Practice
Creating a Daily Practice To-Do List can give you a framework to work from each day. If you have a marketing plan that has regular “to-do’s”, then they can be part of your daily practice plan. I created a daily practice to-do list that I use as that framework. I also have a daily prosperity practice. Check out my article about what it looks like. It provides a starting place that I can use to build a daily “to-do list” from. And it reminds me of the regular tasks that I intend to focus on each day. Sometimes they don’t happen, but I keep referring back to it.
What are the actions that you need to be taking consistently? Do you have a daily practice that grows your business? That is the key. It only makes sense to focus on tasks daily, IF they are going to make a real impact. Like with other marketing strategies — know your numbers and track your conversions!!
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