Before You Throw Out The To-Do List…

Personal productivity is on the mind of many leaders.  Trying to build more relationships, get more tasks done, and expand our capacity to “do” is a common practice of leaders.  This is why leaders and the organizations they oversee expend so much searching for solutions from the world of technology to expand their ability to achieve more.  It is why products, programs and businesses have been built to help people achieve higher levels of productivity. 

At the center of striving to be more productive is the “To-Do List”.  Our parents and teachers taught us to create one.  Franklin-Covey taught us to organize it for maximum effectiveness.  But there is an intangible to “To-Do Lists” that rarely if ever gets addressed.  Leaders are often required to spend time on things outside of the list. 

Leaders get barraged with tasks each day they could not see coming.  Emails come in screaming for a response.  Social networks demand our attention so that we can relationally connect with our clients and potential opportunities.  Phone calls, texts, drop-ins, impromptu meetings, and so much more come crashing into the plans of our neatly organized lists.  Every day, leaders have to make decisions about what to keep and reject on the “To-Do List” so they can accommodate these daily, unscheduled intruders upon our time.

Before you begin tossing out items on the “To-Do List”, consider the following principle. 

“Everything seems urgent, but not everything is urgently important.”

Our tendency is to allow urgent things to fill our time and muscle out the daily “To-Do List”.  However, what is urgent may not always be most important.  Part of being a high-capacity, productive leader is accomplishing important tasks, not simply urgent ones. 

For example, think of the little pop-up email reminder that announces to you an email has just arrived in your inbox.  This is not necessarily the most important thing to click on in your computer screen.  It seems so urgent, but rarely is it important.  Conversely, seeing your boss’ name come up on your Caller ID often means it is urgently important for you to pick up and have a conversation.

Time is your most precious commodity as a leader.  Be sure you manage it well by not throwing it at every urgent matter that comes up.  Instead, redirect it to the most urgently important task before you.  When you do, you are executing time and task management at a level that will pay the greatest dividends now and in the future.