The most important to do list is not the one you try and discipline yourself to do every day as a means to organise your life, set priorities, and be more productive.
It is the one you write that lists the ‘to do’ that others owe you.
We exist in communities, co-dependencies and interdependencies abound. When all those varied business and personal networks are considered as a separate list, shared with the ‘information debtor’ your productivity will increase.
In my work as a business coach, I find myself constantly reminding people that it is necessary to chase the money owed to you. Reluctance to do so is a red flag for failure. This is an example everyone understands, but many do not embrace, as the power of the negative response when you ask for what is owed overwhelms many.
Why is it any different for any other factor in our lives?
That expected response to an email requesting information by Friday. Has it come in? why not? To what extent is the slipping of deadlines impacting on your productivity, and commitments to meet the undertakings you have made to others?
A boss of mine years ago used to keep a little notebook.
In it he would record undertakings and deadlines I agreed to in the conversations we regularly had relating to the actions and outputs of the functions I managed in the enterprise we both worked for. He never had to highlight the fact that I had agreed to something, I knew it, and I knew his little book would ensure he did not let it fall through the cracks.
It worked. You should try it.
