28Beware of Your To-Do List
There is always some sense of satisfaction when you draw a line through some task on your to-do list. That’s one reason to-do lists are addictive to the busy manager. But to-do lists are not proxies for performance. That you crossed off 20 things on your to-do list doesn’t mean you got anything important done. Short lists are good. Checklists are often job critical, such as preflight and presurgery protocols. Important projects, listed democratically with 50 other items on a typical to-do list, don’t get done. “Short” means a list of three to eight top priority projects. Working on too many things means little gets finished, or finished well. Working on the wrong things is a total waste.
Steve Jobs (CEO, Apple) only ...
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