Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters
Running a business is a big job. With countless tasks and responsibilities vying for your attention, staying on top of everything can be a massive challenge. As a way to help you manage it all, we recently explored one helpful approach for entrepreneurs: Time management.
Today, we’re going to focus on another helpful approach: Writing a list.
Yes, the humble list is a powerful tool that can turn chaos into clarity, helping you manage your business tasks way more effectively.
Let’s dive into some of the top advantages that writing lists will bring to your company.
Free Up Your Brain Power
The first advantage of making a list is how it frees your mind.
There’s a thing called “cognitive load,” which refers to the mental effort needed to process information at any given moment. The problem is, it’s limited. You can run out of it – there’s only so much information you can hold in your head before you get overwhelmed and things start falling through the cracks.
Writing a list lightens your cognitive load.
You no longer have to spend precious brain power trying to remember what tasks you have to take care of – you can just focus on the task at hand, then check the list once you’re done. By writing tasks down, you’re transferring the work from your brain to your digital notes (or paper, if you’re old school like me), which frees up your mind and helps prevent you from forgetting the important things that need to get done.
I personally carry around an old school notebook that has all my messages and lists in it.
Remember the Essentials
As an entrepreneur, you’re going to run into all kinds of tasks. Some are long-term, maybe not urgent right this minute. But other tasks will fly right at you, all at the same time, and all of them needing your immediate attention.
On days like this, it’s very easy for things to start falling through the cracks. It’s just how the brain works. It can only hold an average of 3 to 5 items at a time before stuff starts getting lost in the shuffle. But if you stop long enough to make a list of everything you need to take on, you’re going to drastically lower the odds of missing or forgetting something important.
It’s an extra step that may feel like you’re slowing down right when you need to be speeding up – but pausing to jot down that list is going to make it much easier to hit every task, no matter how quickly they’re coming at you.
Prevent Mistakes Before They Happen
Mistakes are a part of any business, but they can be costly, so everyone naturally tries their best to avoid them as much as possible. Lists help reduce the likelihood of oversights or errors by providing a structured approach to your task management.
Let’s say you’ve got a procedure that’s made up of multiple steps. Even if you’ve done this procedure dozens (or even hundreds) of times, it’s still possible to miss a step – which can lead to mistakes.
It’s why pilots use checklists before starting the engine, taking off, and landing. Despite all their training and experience, pilots may still have their memory impacted by factors like stress or sleep. When you create a checklist for any kind of procedure, you dramatically lower the chances of important steps being missed and errors being made.
A list also acts like a safety net. If you get interrupted or sidetracked partway through your procedure, you can use your checklist to easily pick up right where you left off.
In fact, we use a checklist before we launch any website. It helps us make sure to hit all the final steps, like installing Google Analytics and setting up reporting.
Photo by Pasqualino Capobianco
Prioritize Your Tasks
Keeping all your tasks in mind is essential, but keeping a list also allows you to determine which tasks to do first.
Figuring out the best order to carry out all your work is the key to your efficiency as a business leader. Without a clear system in place, it’s too easy to get bogged down with busywork while more urgent tasks languish.
Making a list is an excellent way to prioritize assignments effectively – and it can significantly improve your productivity. By ranking your tasks from most to least important, you can make sure that the high-priority items receive the attention they deserve.
Refamiliarize Yourself with Past Actions
Lists also free you up from having to rely on your memory in order to take care of business – and that gets even more helpful as time goes on and memories fade.
Entrepreneurs often have to revisit the past actions and decisions that took place months, or even years, ago. Your old lists offer a useful record of everything you’ve done, so if something important comes up and you need to jog your memory, you can just refer back to your old list of tasks or projects.
Stress Less
Entrepreneurship is often synonymous with stress, for good reason – but lists can help alleviate some of that pressure. Lists offer a sense of control. Knowing exactly what needs to be done, and when, empowers you to approach your work with confidence, and lowers the chances that you’ll become overwhelmed.
Not only that, but checking off completed tasks offers a nice jolt of accomplishment when you check it off the list.
Photo by Milad Fakurian
The Power of the List
If you’re ready to harness the power of lists for your business, try adding them to your daily routine. Experiment with different formats and tools until you find what works best for you.
And if you’re looking to cross some stuff off your checklist, reach out to Smart Link Solutions. We’ll take digital marketing and communications off your list! Our experts will help you refine your brand and achieve your professional goals – in fact, we’ve been helping businesses succeed in the digital world since 1994. We offer many cutting-edge services, including:
To learn more, call 866 – 757 – 5100 or visit Smart Link Solutions today!