To-Do Lists

Originally Posted by RainMaker This is where I am struggling. I experience undo stress over keeping on top of my follow up. I am trying to automate this, but I am very much an "out of sight, out of mind" kind of person, and I am afraid to let go of my paper. How do you put together your call sheets and is this an automated process?

I use a spreadsheet I made up in Excel for tracking my calls. Like Jeffrey says no matter how you organize it or what program you use, the most important thing is to input the information right away. Otherwise things will slip through the cracks.

I noticed this post just after I wrote down a list of things to do today. What's the odds.

"During the Industrial Revolution, Andrew Carnegie, as President of Bethlehem Steel, hired a young management consultant by the name of Ivy Lee to help him increase the productivity of the office employees. After observing them work for almost a month, Lee went into Mr. Carnegie’s office with the recommendation.

He said that most of the people wasted time in the morning getting started. It was as if they weren’t sure what needed to be done and in what order. Lee then produced a simple piece of paper with lines on it numbered one through ten. He suggested that before people went home in the evening to write down what needed to be done tomorrow and to prioritize their importance.

As Earl Nightingale used to tell the story, Mr. Carnegie didn’t expect such a simple solution and really questioned the value of the idea. Lee reportedly was so confident that it would work told Mr. Carnegie to try it for a month and to send him a check for whatever he thought the idea was worth. The results were so dramatic that Mr. Carnegie sent Lee a check almost 100 years ago for $25,000."

I think To do List is a concept which is good in most of the ways but in today's competitive world you need much more then To Do list..

i used to use those list and got bored and annoyed after using it and was never consitenet with it till the time i did a great workshop offered by a company called missioncontrol...that actually transformed the way my time looks like / my work / my day to day working habits...

very simple but unique way to improve productivity..

u can check out their website

www.missioncontrol.com

naishadh

I keep a spiral bound notebook on my desk. I use it for notes and customer calls all day long. I save these notebooks, and can always go look up a particular date if I'm looking for something.
I also start each day with a To Do List.

Susan

in my life i could not survive without a to do list. i keep one on my desk in my office (usually at least 2 pages long daily). i keep one in my house. and also i carry one with me in my car.

it never fails that i remember something i have to do when it is the least relevent. if i do not write it down you can guaranty that it will slip my mind. I fil one out when i leave work for the next day. when i go to bed for the next day, and the i carry with me gets notes jotted down all day and night.

Up until a few years ago, i relied on my computer telling what i needed to do, or just remembering. unfortunately, more often than not, i would remember too late or the computer would crash (or there may have been operator error). Since i have started with the to do lists my career has skyrocketed, i never miss a conference, a thank you call, a follow-up call, appointment. or even something as simple as to pick up the milk on my way home.

now i do not say that you schedule your life around one. i am actually quite a spontanious guy, but with ym to-do list i manage to get what in need done in a very short amount of time. no searching for notes or backtracking for info.

to do lists =

Originally Posted by Jeff Blackwell We enter all [perfect scenario] of our calls into our software program as soon as we get them.

What kind of softward program do you use? I just got one an haven't started using it yet.

I also do a lot better with a to do list but don't always use one. I keep a list of what I've done which measures my productivity and I also have a that list as a record.

Originally Posted by ozzie What kind of softward program do you use?

Hi Ozzie. The software program we use is an online application that we had custom built for our business a few years ago.