Tag Archives: To Do List

Confessions of an Organizing Junkie

While I was packing away some of my winter gear I noticed a stack of neglected files in my front hall closet. Deep down, I knew they were there, but I just wasn’t prepared to admit it yet.  The problem is, once I had those files in my sight, other images started flooding to mind.  [...]
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Kids Write the Funniest To Do Lists

Productivity is not for the faint of heart.  It requires discipline and hard work. But it’s all for a good reason. Our driving motivation boils down to living life the best way we know how. But sometimes, in the midst of trying to be uber-productive, we can get all caught up in our lists and [...]
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How to Create the Perfect To Do List

The To Do List Backlash At a recent productivity workshop, I was telling everyone that the root of any good productivity system comes down to the simple To Do List. Based on the reaction from the audience, I almost felt like I had to run for cover. “To Do Lists don’t work for me!” “I’ve tried [...]
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The Checklist: If it’s good enough for Van Halen, it’s good enough for me

I love when lessons are wrapped up in good stories, like in the book The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande. One story described Van Halen’s concert contracts. These contracts clearly request a bowl of M&M’s “with all the brown candies removed, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation to the band”. The story goes on to say that Van Halen actually followed through on this clause at least once. My first reaction to this was: “Wow – another example of a ridiculous rock star request”. But my reaction changed as I read more …
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How to Leverage Your Assistant Effectively

Many moons ago, when I was learning how to drive, my driving instructor kept telling me to “look 12 seconds down the road.” As tedious as it seemed at the time, he had me cite a running commentary of everything that I saw approaching us: There is a street light up ahead; I am about [...]
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