How managers can maximize productivity — without a to-do list

By Alyssa Place, This is my expertise
Published 2 Min Read

Pexels

For managers, the pressure is always on to maximize productivity and get it all done. But there are better ways to power through the day than by checking off boxes on an endless to-do list.

“To-do lists don’t work,” says Don Khouri, an executive coach and author. “To-do lists don’t tell us what to do next and they include a flat list of stuff that can’t really be completed. That can be overwhelming.”

In your career, you need to have a plan for where you’re going. There’s more requests for our time than we could ever possibly get to. So that’s where we have to be really clear and purposeful about what we are going to focus on. Do these items fit into the goals you’ve set? If it does, you can move on. If the task doesn’t fit into that, you really need to ask yourself if the roadmap needs to change.

In talking to C-level executives, most of them had some sort of relationship hierarchy. Some may put their boss number one, others put their customer number one, others put their spouse number one. And they’re going to give more weight to that request than they are for someone that’s lower on their relationship hierarchy.

Alyssa Place
Editor-in-chief

Alyssa Place is the editor-in-chief of Employee Benefit News and has been with the team since 2019. Her work covers mental health, DEI, women at work, financial wellness, retirement and workplace … Read full bio


For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.


More From Employee Benefit News

Sign Up Form

Login Modal Form