I was on the phone with Ryan Brewer yesterday and we were talking about all the ideas we had in our heads and how we were struggling with moving forward on many of them.
I mentioned that I had just purchased a dry erase board and was going to start using that for my ‘to do’ list. As you can see from the image I broke my list into two categories.
My “Should Do” list dresses up what I’m doing. For the most part it’s the cherry on top. This list is the one I most naturally gravitate towards. It’s not scary. It doesn’t require me to do anything challenging and when something on it gets done I get to sit back and be proud of how pretty something is. The problem with the “Should Do” list is that it doesn’t make you money, directly anyway.
The “Must Do” list is the tough one. That’s the list that makes you money but it’s the most frightening. It’s the stuff we put off because there is risk there and no guarantee of a happy feeling or great results when you are done. For me it’s developing some new product and making some phone calls that may not go my way. This list is that 20% of my work that will make 80% of my income. It’s just scary stuff. What if no one wants to purchase my new product or service? What if no one shows up for the live show? The “Must Do” list comes with no guarantees, only hard work.
I would encourage you to move your “To Do” list to something similar to this dry erase board. I think I [we] get so dependent on our computers that I [we] forget the value of a “To Do” list that isn’t hard to dig up. Something that we see every time we get up from our desk in our office. Something that will keep you accountable all day long regardless of electricity or internet connection. Something that will help you dump the ideas out of your head onto something that will force you to categorize your thoughts into the right categories.
This is an attempt at helping myself ship (I’m already sick of that term but it works) more products and services this year.
What’s yours?
I am always having ideas so I make sure to have a parking spot for the ideas I consider “someday maybe”. Then I have a white board at home with a very short list of the things I must do plus one thing I should do.
Josh Bulloc
Kansas City, MO
How can I help?
The only time I’ve ever used a dry erase board before was just our install schedule. Oh, those were the days! lol
Get this! It helps me to think and plan through the “scary stuff.”
http://www.amazon.com/ShipIt-Journal-Five-Pack/dp/0970309996/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1296009041&sr=8-3
Good idea! I’ll look into it!