Comments on: Small Business Productivity: Is Your To-Do List Doing You?

By: 411 WebConnect Canada USA

411 WebConnect Canada USA — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:50:30 +0000

Very useful and important strategy to apply in all aspects, I guess I’ll make this my new years resolution. Writing to-do lists and prioritizing and following up.

By: Business Employment Law

Business Employment Law — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:00:18 +0000

Thank you for all of the useful ideas about re-organizing and prioritizing. I have found that a daily, weekly monthly, yearly lists really help me to move along on a path where I want to end up down the road 5 years or 10 years from now. And it all starts with how the daily builds into the weekly into the monthly…

By: Closet Organizers

Closet Organizers — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:16:55 +0000

I make lists all the time, but the never seem to get any shorter. In fact some of my “to-do” lists have entries like “go through the other to-do lists”! I just have so many! I think my productivity needs to be better.

By: Term Paper

Term Paper — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:15:19 +0000

It helps me get things done. Also i like to use pen and paper when making these lists.I have to keep myself focused long enough to get anything done!

By: John P.

John P. — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:52:18 +0000

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is extremely helpful and beneficial to your readers :)

By: Custom Metal Fabrication

Custom Metal Fabrication — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:25:42 +0000

This may not be the best advice, but I always feel happy when I accomplish two or three items from my to-do list. Instead of stressing myself out to get everything done, I focus on getting just a couple items done, it helps my stress level a lot!

By: Vintage Bicycles

Vintage Bicycles — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:36:56 +0000

My today list is certainly overdoing me…

Now what was I doing?

Oh yeah.. I was supposed to leave half an hour ago… I think I am addicted to blogs. uhoh.

By: Dawud Miracle

Dawud Miracle — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:42:33 +0000

Simon,
Mac or PC?

Hendry,
Sounds like a great strategy. What do you do with any tasks that backup?

Mari,
No worries.

I’ve looked at Remember the Milk – nice system. I think I tend to like the simple, 3-tier todo-list, myself.

Call,
Nice. I know so many people who do have their to-do lists controlling them. How did you find the system that works for you?

hakan,
Mac or PC?

In general, find what works best with your brain and your workflow.

By: hakan

hakan — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:01:41 +0000

I think I had better to use a list after that.

Do you recommend any “to do list” software or online service?

By: Call Center Philippines

Call Center Philippines — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:57:47 +0000

I agree with Simon too.

The physical act of writing them down gives me a bigger push that compels me to really do them. It’s also particularly delightful to cross out items from the to-do list. haha!

@dawud
As it turns out, my things to do don’t end up controlling my life. I have a specific time for everything and that prevents things from overlapping with each other.

By: Mari Adkins

Mari Adkins — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:35:16 +0000

I missed your response Dawud. Sorry about that. For a time, I used Stickies – they sit right on the computer desktop like a Post-It, but with the convenience of alarms and the ability to share via e-mail or over a network. But then I discovered Remember the Milk and AirSet – AirSet syncs beautifully, imho, with Outlook Calendar (and man others). I use RtM mostly for grocery/shopping lists, honestly. But AirSet is great for everything else – telephone calls, appointments, birthdays, trips, meetings, etc.

By: Hendry Lee

Hendry Lee — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:15:30 +0000

I use GTD with a twist. I pick a things I want to get done tomorrow at the end of the day, and put as Outlook tasks.

I manage GTD (including projects) using OneNote so creating Outlook tasks is very simple with shortcuts. OneNote has some great category feature that I use for context.

Later I find this is exactly what’s recommended in Zen to Done.

By: Simon Slade

Simon Slade — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:50:18 +0000

The act of writing something down is very powerful. It sets an intention to accomplish and finishing. Finding the perfect to-do software or system can be challenging. I have tried several and can’t find one that does “everything” perfectly.

By: Dawud Miracle

Dawud Miracle — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:25:26 +0000

Stuart,
Fully understand. So what do you use to track your projects and tasks?

By: Stuart

Stuart — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:30:04 +0000

I find that no matter how many times I try to make to do lists, they never seem to work. After some advice from another Entrepreneur, I learned that as long as all Vital jobs are done each day, and you write down all ideas, you will be ok.

Took me 3 years to resign myself to the fact that my brain just isnt meant to be controlled by to do lists. Would probably stop my creativity.

By: Dawud Miracle

Dawud Miracle — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:02:27 +0000

Elizabeth,
Without a doubt that’s true. Watching my kids is a great reminder of that. What do you do to break your goals into actionable steps?

Rex,
Without a doubt. The goal is to be as effective as you can with the time you have, right? How do you evaluate what’s important versus what’s tedious work?

Sunny,
Sure, any time.

Mari,
I know a lot of people who email themselves reminders. Ever take it a step further and use to-do software?

Call,
Sounds like it. What have you learnt the most in parsing out your lists?

Monica,
Interesting. I know what it’s like to create an endless list of tasks that never gets done. Can you share more about how you scrapped your old lists and made them smaller?

By: Monica Mussafah

Monica Mussafah — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:21:07 +0000

I found that I always struggled with my to do lists in the past until I started to scrap them and make them way smaller.
Kind of like one step at the time and never more than 4 major projects in any week. This tactic has helped me tremendously and since then I almost always get my to do lists done.

By: Call Center Philippines

Call Center Philippines — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:12:36 +0000

This is an interesting read. I remember when I was a lot younger, I used to obsess about making to-do lists but I always end up listing more than what I can handle. It’s just that one task branches out to more tasks and then I end up having something too big to handle.

Now that I got a bit older and I’m now working, I keep a more functional and grounded to-do list. But I have a different list for the different aspects of my life. So at work, I have a separate list that takes care of all my duties for that particular day, that week and that month. When I’m at home though, I have a separate list of things to do. So I’d like to think I keep a healthy distinction between my work life and my home life.

By: Mari Adkins

Mari Adkins — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:50:26 +0000

I use Remember the Milk for my to-do lists – like Outlook Calendar, it can send me reminder pings, and I’m able to e-mail myself notes. This works way better for me than Post-It Notes.

By: SOB Business Cafe 06-05-08 - Liz Strauss at Successful Blog - Thinking, writing, business ideas . . . You’re only a stranger once.

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:18:24 +0000

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