How We Tammed the Big List
Are your to do's too long?
Grant McDowell
October 1, 2003
When our small staff (of two) met for a long-term planning and goals review, my colleague was visibly stressed. She said, "My whole life is church. I'm drained, rather than energized, by ministry. I want to be able to go home without thinking about work all the time." We talked about delegating some of her duties. But she was already delegating effectively. Then we talked about her schedule. She produced a "to do" list with 64 items on it. No wonder she felt pressured! Her list included everything from meetings and telephone calls to recruiting ministry leaders and revising ministry positions. With the help of another set of eyes, she realized some of the duties could be delegated. But it still left an intimidating list and an incredible mess on her monthly planner. Eventually we arrived at a simple but effective way of keeping priorities straight and burdens in perspective. Focus on five
The "Big List" was overwhelming, and the cluttered pages in her planner added discouragement to defeat. So I suggested she choose no more than five things from the 64 and write them on a clean page in her day calendar. Which five? First, she evaluated deadlines and started with the most urgent. What needs to be done by tomorrow? By Sunday? Second, she asked, "What steps could be taken now to make visible progress toward long-range goals?" By narrowing her focus, she discovered many of the pressing things weren't as urgent as she felt before. She chose five items, and then we established a rule: she had to finish all five before looking again at her Big List. She could not add a sixth task after completing the first. Only after all five were done could she choose up to five more. The rest of the Big List stayed hidden in the hard drive of her computer ...
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