Words to live by from an awesome woman named Chalene Johnson.

"You may believe you simply cannot be more organized or make better use of your time. In fact, you have no free-time. Each exhausted night you mentally plot and plan the things you’ll need to accomplish the next day. Your to-do list is scribbled on scraps of paper, post it notes, or maybe carefully stored away and easily accessible in….”your steel trap memory”; the same steel trap memory that is so clouded and overloaded that you find it hard to remember where you parked at the grocery store. Yet, you have difficulty falling asleep; your mind a buzz with things that call your attention. You awake and plunge into another day of break-neck chaos. If only you could get “X” done, than you’d have a short reprise. You work longer and harder than most of your friends, yet responsibilities and important people keep slipping through the cracks. Your life must just be crazier than everyone else’s. Your stress level has climbed to an all time high. Success seems out of your reach.

Successful people are highly productive, but more importantly they are highly effective at using their time. Hard working and highly productive are two different things. Highly productive people are in a separate class, one which we should all aspire to.

Highly productive people seem to have their act together. They work smart! They are paid more and worth every penny. They work from home in a dream business that allows them to schedule their day and their lives the way that makes the most sense to them. They have your dream job, your dream life, your dream car, your dream family, your ideal life. They have realized goals that are but a cloudy dream for others. They never look for work, because someone is always looking for them. They are the people who you admire for their ability to “get so much done,” yet seem so in control.

These highly productive humanoids, surprisingly, have the same genetic make-up as those of us who frantically spin our wheels for 12 hours straight; working feverishly to get everything done, yet accomplishing little more than a stress headache and a never-ending mountain of unfinished laundry, unanswered email, half fulfilled responsibilities, overwhelming projects and confusing priorities. Highly productive people do two things differently than everyone else.

Highly productive people stop and ask themselves, “Is this my best use of time?” If it’s not, they find someone else to do it and use their time wisely. They take on less to be able to “do” more. They say, “I’m sorry, I can’t take that on at this time.” They respect their time. They know their priorities. These are their character traits. There are two activities that highly productive people do; that you can start today, and they are so simple you won’t believe it.

Drum roll please….

1. They make a to-do list every day. Every day.
2. They refer back to their “to-do” list several times a day.

STOP!

Stop right there. You did it. I heard it. You just thought to yourself, “I know that and I usually do make a to-do list.”

That’s the problem. Intending to make a list and occasionally making a list doesn’t cut it. Oh sure, it helps, but it’s not going to get you to a different place. It’s simply not good enough.

To convert your vision board, your dreams, your goals into reality, to accomplish more in less time, to go to bed with a happy heart and clear mind and less to do the next day, you have to make a list EVERY DAY and refer back to it constantly throughout your day. The key is consistency.

Almost everyone I know tells me that they often make a to-do list. Almost no one I know makes a to-do list every day and refers back to it throughout the day. Therein lies the difference between “most” people and very successful people. I’m average in every sense of the word. In fact, in some areas I’ll be the first to admit that I’m well below average. That’s okay. It’s never bothered me. I’ve never given insecure thoughts in those areas the energy to slow me down. Why? Because I kick major butt in one very important area…. To-Do lists! In this one area, I know there are very few people who can compete and because of that one simple thing, that anyone can do, I know I’ll always come out ahead of the pack and in control of my own destiny. List making is my greatest talent! In fact, I believe if you’re good at tackling a to-do list, you don’t need a talent! It overrides all other skills!

Referring back to your to-do list through out the day is the missing ingredient for most. Many make a list and then are quickly distracted by the fire on the front burner. Tonight I found myself sitting down to write this article and quickly losing focus. “Googling” topics randomly popped into my head and I was attending to each “ding” signaling new mail in my in-box. After a few minutes of lack-luster productivity, I decided to look again at today’s to-do list. Low and behold if the very first thing wasn’t “finish Productivity article”. Okay, back to being productive.

If you are easily distracted, you must get into the habit of referring back to your list constantly throughout the day. A daily to-do list will simplify your life, prioritize your responsibilities and organize your day.

Spend 5-10 minutes each day on planning your activities with a daily to do list. Start your day with it, or even better, every evening write a plan for the next day; listing your daily things to do. It is important that you actually write your tasks. Some people are more comfortable doing it on paper, while others prefer using a computer or smart phone. Productive people know that they cannot rely on their memory alone to keep track of these items and their importance and their completion date. I’ve created workshops, books and seminars around a specific technique of creating and maintaining a simplified to-do list. This is the single most important life changing habit you can adopt. 

After you've listed all your tasks, review your to do list and decide on the priority of each task. Give higher priority to the tasks that get you closer to your goals or help achieve what is immediately important.

One important tip to keep in mind; if during a day some new unplanned task comes up, don't do anything until you put that new task on your list and rank its priority. See it written among the other tasks and put it in perspective. The more you let go of the urge to skip that simple step, the more productive and satisfied you become.

A carefully crafted, diligently maintained to-do list is all you need! How simple is that? You don’t have to be born into the Kennedy family or have model good looks. You don’t need an MBA or executive training. You need no special talent. All you need is to develop two simple habits that very few people will take the time to develop. I challenge each of you to consistently adopt these habits every day for 7 days straight and let me know the outcome. I guarantee you’ll enjoy the most productive week of your life!"