who is your to-do list actually for?

I am guessing that you have one. A personal "to-do" list of things that you want to get done. If you are like me it can get pretty long and some items have a tendency to drop towards, or even off, the bottom.

At work things move down your list because changes in business conditions have caused a reevaluation of priorities. For many of us it is our manager who makes that call. After all, they know why we are doing it and they asked us to do the work in the first place! They are the customer for the work we do each day and they are responsible for holding us accountable.

But who is the customer for the work you have on your personal to do list? Who asked you to do that work in the first place? Why did you agree to do it and who is holding you accountable?

You are. You did. Only you know and you are responsible.

And that, I think, is where the problems start. And they will continue unless you are able to answer these four questions:

1. Are you clear about why that item made it to your to-do list in the first place? You need to start with why (Simon Sinek can help there).
2. Do you have a clear understanding about what specific actions the task involves (run 3.5 km and do 50 sit-ups) or have you just written something broad and vague like "get fit"?
3. Have you committed to a clear date and time by which you intend to complete each task? Is it in your calendar complete with reminders?
4. Are you able to articulate what standard of work is acceptable? The draft blog post I am currently looking at does not meet the standard attached to my task for today of "Write weekly post" so, much as I might want to, I will not be crossing that item off my list until I have actually hit the publish button.

Even if you have clear answers to all of those question circumstances might change. New priorities might emerge and the date for delivery on something else can slip or you might only have time to complete a 2 km run today. You know why you are running and the important piece may be getting into the habit of running not the distance.

All of that isn't that hard.

The bigger question is how will you go about holding yourself accountable? Who is responsible for noticing the task has been rescheduled three times and asking you to explain? Who has the role of pointing out that there are no tasks on your list that are helping you get to your why and then asking why that is the case?

I have been thinking about that a lot lately and I think I have some answers, but I would love to hear how you do it. How do you go about holding yourself accountable? Please let me know by leaving a comment below.

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