Successful People Rely on Their Calendars

Before I wrote a word of my latest book, “To Do Lists That Work”, I spent months on an in-depth (some might say excessive) study. I looked into the ways different people from different walks of life all over the world kept their to do lists. I knew that most people struggled to create a focused and helpful to do list. I knew people were feeling frustrated and overwhelmed by their to do list systems. I knew that there had to be “to do lists that worked” — hence the name of the book — used by the world’s most successful people.

I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel and devise yet another to do list method or app to add to the confusion. Instead, I intended to find the pattern of success.

I believed that the world’s most successful and productive people use a variation of the same to do list system. I intended to find that system and simplify it for everyone to use.

What I found was completely unexpected and caused me to wonder if I should choose a new title for my book. I was correct that the world’s most successful people use a similar method. The method kept them organised and on top of their tasks for each day, week, month, and in the long-term. But what blew my mind was that they weren’t using a to do list at all.

Successful people do not write to do lists. Successful people work from their…