Why your To-Do List is Failing You

When you do a Google search for to-do lists, it’s just as easy to find information supporting the benefits of a to-do list as it is to find information that document why to-do lists are a waste of time. You don’t have to go far to encounter people who are more than willing to share why they refuse to create a to-do list. Maybe you’re one of these people, or maybe you live with someone who doesn’t see value in the structure of consistently creating a list.

Over the past 25 years, I’ve had the privilege of working with hundreds of leaders, some who swore by their to-do list, and others who swore by their lack of a to-do list. Here are some explanations given by those to-do list avoidant leaders:

• To-do lists require too much structure; they like living in the moment
• Lists are inefficient and a waste of time. They already know what they have to get done
• Lists give the illusion that you are really busy and are accomplishing really important things
• Lists just make you feel guilty about what you’re not getting done
• It takes too much time to learn and use a new productivity system
• They know to-do lists are important; they just cannot create a new habit
• They refuse to let a to-do list own them like a loan shark the day before they are paid
• There are a lot more important things in life than writing a stupid to-do list
• They are currently living the life they love and don’t need a to-do list to do that

There is a lot of truth in each one of these reasons for not making a to-do list a part of your life. If you currently do not utilize a to-do list, and you are living the life you love, you may not see the need to change.

But, it may not be all about you.

An important question for leaders to ask themselves is, “Do the people in my life that I lead or support all agree that I am both productive and effective in the value I bring to them, the team, or the organization?” If you’re not certain, a 360 Leadership Development Assessment can give you a clear picture of how effective you are at getting the most important things accomplished.

When it comes to accomplishing things, my team and I are strong believers in effective to-do lists. If you’re like us, you’re time challenged; there is not enough time in the day to get everything done. Fortunately, all of us have been blessed equally in that we all have the same amount of time in each day. Successful people are better at getting the most important things done each day.

Ben Franklin was the master of this. He guided his own self-improvement by detailing a thirteen week plan to practice the important virtues of life such as silence, order, resolution, moderation and sincerity. It was Franklin’s virtue of resolution that most likely motivated him to create a list of things to do and create a detailed schedule each day to accomplish his list. Although Ben did not have emails popping up every moment of the day, he was like us in that he became frustrated when things came up, such as dinners to attend or customers to serve, and he was not able to get his list completed.

It doesn’t take being a founding father to create a to-do list. We all know how to create one. You simply:

• Make of list of all the things you have to get done
• Break projects down into manageable tasks
• Separate work, personal and tasks into categories
• Give each task a priority
• Complete your most important priorities first
• When the most important tasks are completed, move less important ones to the top of the list

Sounds easy enough.

So why aren’t people who utilize to-do lists even more successful and effective? Because their to-do lists are failing them. Many people forget that a to-do list is a tool, not a destination. Here’s how placing too much emphasis on your to-do list will fail you:

To-do lists focus on things to do, rather than on what’s most critical.

Last week, I dropped my wallet and everything fell out. The wind was blowing hard off the harbor and all my money flew off with the wind. I had two $100 bills, four $20’s, and about fifteen $1 bills. As I started to chase my money, the bills closest to me were all the $1’s. I started to pick them up when I thought, “This is stupid. I need to start running and find the $100 and $20 bills.” I ran almost 50 yards before I found the two $100’s and 3 of the four $20’s. When I finally went back to where my wallet had dropped, I was only able to find a few of the $1 bills. While I could have been really efficient and productive picking up the bills that were closest to me, I was a lot more effective–and richer–by focusing on what was important and most critical for my success.

Successful people are better able to recognize that they will never get everything on their list completed, so they have to focus on the few critical things they need to accomplish that day. Many people fail in effectiveness because they do what is easy and quick, rather than what is critical.

What are the three to five most critical tasks or actions that you need to accomplish today? Most likely, if you get those critical tasks accomplished, you will be both successful and effective. You will never have enough time to do it all. The Pareto Principle is right: twenty percent of your tasks will most likely lead to 80 percent of your accomplishment and effectiveness.

To-do lists emphasize priorities over payoff.

Less successful people tend to focus more on urgency and priorities. Successful people tend to be more focused on payoffs. A to-do list is usually filled with daily priorities that need to get done. Making a big strategic shift in direction or writing a book are both examples where the immediate priority is most likely low, but the long term payoff is most likely huge. Successful people find ways to delegate routine ordinary activities or put systems in place to accomplish these types of tasks quickly with the least amount of time and effort. This frees up more of their time to work on high payoff activities.

To-do lists don’t account for time.

Successful to-do lists are accompanied by a timeline which can be incorporated into your calendar and put into action much easier. A to-do list, by definition, is dangerously infinite. However, a calendar consists of blocks of time which are not. It’s much easier to know when you can say yes or no to new tasks when you have time blocked out on your calendar than when you’ve got a long-running list. Successful people know they will have the time to accomplish the most critical, high payoff tasks because they have allocated the time in their schedule.

It is easy to be busy. It is a lot harder to be effective. Do you know the difference?