Crippled CEO Blog #130: No More To-Do Lists

Crippled CEO Blog #130:

I don’t make to-do lists. 

In fact, I think they are a bad idea.

And, I promise, it isn’t because I have a superhuman memory and I don’t need to track the things I have to do.

I don’t make to-do lists because they lack a very necessary component: when?

When am I going to do these things?

That’s why, instead of making a list of things I need to do, I put them in my calendar. 

From doing projects to checking email, if it’s a  that I need to do, I block it out on my calendar. And then I treat that time like it’s an appointment. 

Most of us fill our calendars with all of the things that keep us from working — meetings, phone calls, appointments, etc. (things other people want from us, usually) — and if there’s room in the calendar, there must be time for more of that stuff, so we fill it. But then when do we actually do the work that matters? 

And if the actual work is the most important thing we do, then why aren’t we putting that on the calendar? Why aren’t we fitting all these other things around the top priority instead of the other way around? 

As far as I can tell, there is no real good reason. So, let’s start doing it. Let’s start blocking out uninterrupted time where we get done the real work that’s going to have the biggest impact, and let’s try to squeeze in everything else around that, instead of the other way around.

That’s what I’m going to do. Let me know if you want to do it, too. I want to hear your results.

(Do you know who I blocked out a large amount of time with last night? Your mom. Your mom also gets a text from me every Sunday with a link to the latest blog post. Send a text to 561-726-1567 with the word CRIP as the message to get a link to the blog as soon as it’s up.)