My Time-Management Secret

Ah, the to-do list.  The secret weapon of busy people everywhere.  On it, you list all the things you need to do, want to do, wish you could do from now until the day you die.

Then you wonder why it's not making you any more productive.

You need to be as ruthless with the clutter on that list as you are with the clutter in your closet.

This is not your dream journal, it's just where you try to get a little more organization into your day.

So unless you're actually in the process of writing a novel, don't put it on your list.

Write down the things you're actually going to do today, the things you need to remember and one little task that will take your life from what it is now to what you want it to become.

That's it.  I'm talking half a dozen items.  Maybe a dozen if you have kids.

Then you'll actually get some of it done.  Then you'll feel good about yourself, which is a wonderfully energizing feeling that might just let you get a head start on tomorrow's manageable list.