Is Reactivity Killing Your Productivity? Try This To-Do List Instead

Is reactivity ruining your productivity? Has your to do list got you so frustrated that you want to pull your hair out every day as you realize that the things you're working on aren't the things that you really should be working on to drive your business forward? If so, today's episode of Bacon Wrap Business is dedicated to you.

How do you make business problems disappear? Wrap em in bacon for business owners, marketing execs, and anyone trying to grow your business. Pump your profits and make more while doing less. Welcome to Bacon Wrapped Business with Brad Costanzo. Sizzling hot business advice guaranteed to make you fat profits. Every week, our chefs will serve you proven recipes for ramping up your revenue. Now here's your host, Brad Costanzo.

Hey everybody. Welcome to the show. Like he said, I'm Brad Costanzo. I'm a business owner, an entrepreneur and a consultant. And I've dealt with tasks and to do lists and project management and time management for years. And it's always been one of the most frustrating part of my days until I got it under control. Speaking of time management, I'm a firm believer that time management does not exist. Each single one of US is given 24 hours in the day. You each have the same amount of time to do what you need to do in your day. Activity management does exist. You can't manage time, but you can manage your activities. And I found that when I strategically manage my activities in the way I'm going to share with you today, I get a lot more done and I enjoy doing them. Now we all know that the to do list is a necessary evil in business. They need to be there, otherwise we don't get anything accomplished. However, they are often the bane of our existence. In the past, I kept a long running to do list of all the various tasks that I had to do and I would end up crossing them off, not usually by how urgent or important they were, but by what I was in the mood to do at the time. If I wasn't in a very good mood, I'd just take care of the easiest ones first that didn't require a whole lot of brain power. Then I realized that I was reacting to tasks as opposed to proacting in my business. And I was doing putting out fires and doing things that weren't real big revenue drivers. And those were all piling up in the need to be done. And by the end of the week, I had a whole bunch of tasks in the need to be done and I realized that those are the ones that make me the most money So I knew that something had to be done. So step one of my to do list transformation was to segregate the tasks out into reactive and proactive tasks. And the reactive ones are putting out fires, doing all the things that don't really engage me mentally but just need to be handled. The proactive tasks are the ones that do engage me mentally, that I do need to be on my game, whether I'm creating something or strategizing and pushing things forward, or making a sale or dealing with people. And then that allowed me to say, okay, if I'm in a great mood right now and I'm feeling really good, I'm going to work on the proactive tasks. If I was in just a blase mood or a bad one, God forbid I would work on the reactive tasks. And that was an effective strategy in the beginning. In fact, it was so effective that it forced me to take a look at how I could improve it. And that's where I came up with a system for me that I'm going to share with you and invite you to try it or tweak it so that it works for you. So the very first thing I did was to analyze all of the activities I did and categorize them by the mindset needed to accomplish them effectively. And I'll repeat that. I took a look at all the routine tasks that I did and categorized them by the mindset needed to accomplish them effectively. Now that means the traditional to do list became more of my either reactive tasks or the ones that don't need any specific skill set or critical thinking involved or creativity. And I put those on one list. The next list was the strategize list. If I had to think about something and plan it out and explore all the options, maybe it was how am I going to run this new promotion? What are all the options I have to do? What are the pros and cons? What needs to happen in order to move all of these plans into the to do list? The next list I created was the create list or to create, usually a result of the To Strategize list. So in my business, I do a lot of creative work, whether it's writing ads and sales copy or creating a show like the Bacon Rat Business show for you that was going on the To Create list. I had to typically be in a good mood, maybe inspired, blood flowing, standing up at my standing desk. Oftentimes I do some push ups to get myself in the mood to create and drink some coffee or take some other great supplements or vitamins. To get myself in that mindset. Now, the next list that I that I created was my skill building or to learn list. Oftentimes I don't have the skill sets needed, whether it's a large skill set or a small skill set, in order to accomplish and create or do the things that I came up with in the strategy list. So I may need to read a book, I may need to make a simple phone call and ask a question or find a method for something. I'm always intellectually curious. So if there's books I'm reading or courses that I'm devouring, I put those on the to learn or skill build list. Those are the ones that usually get done last, unless it's really necessary to cross something off another list. The next list I created were the people and relationship list. They are that important that these are the people that I need to build relationships with. Whether it is a sales call or a joint venture, strategic alliance, pitch, proposal or introduction, or it is a. Or it is any type of contact that I need to make with another person where I need to be on my best to build this relationship. These are not just people to contact. Like call Sally in accounting and tell her to give me the accounts receivable report that goes in the to do list. So the people to contact, that's a very important. It deserved its own list. The last list I created was the was the back burner list. Because oftentimes we come across great ideas and strategies and things we would love to do. But if you're honest with yourself, you can't do everything. And if you know that you came up with a great list and you think, I'm going to get to this, maybe next week or maybe later on, I stick it on the back burner. And that completes the five primary lists of mine. I'll repeat those. The to do list, the strategize list, the create list, the learn or skill build list, the people list, and the back burner list. Now, those work for me and they may work for you. What's important is that you take a look at the categories. Maybe those are the categories that you find yourself working in as well. Perhaps you're not as creative in your business or your role as I have to be, in which case, get rid of the create list and replace it with something else or just get rid of it altogether. But what you'll find is that by categorizing the list this way, you'll be able to understand how to change your state of mind to accomplish those effectively. If you know you've got to create something, go for a jog, go work out, drink a cup of coffee, get yourself in the mood and turn off everything else because you know you need to be in a creative mindset to get that done. And same thing with all of the other areas. Now whether you use this or any other time management or activity management list, I encourage you to let me know what works for you. Do you have something that worked better and transformed your day? Did you wrap a traditional strategy in bacon like I just did? Share it with me. Send an email to askbradakenratbusiness.com Share me your strategies. Ask me your questions. I read every single one of them. And if you've got a great strategy, I may even ask you to be a guest and a co host on the show with me. If you're looking for a second opinion about your business, your strategies, your growth plans, your marketing especially, and you want to find out if I may have an answer for you. If I can wrap your problems or challenges in bacon, I invite you to go to bacon wrap business.com second opinion and there will be instructions there on how we may be able to work together. Because I am in the business of helping others, whether free like this or in client and one on one relationships achieve their goals and achieve much more by taking my unique spin and the resources that I have to help you further your business objectives. Now, I have a very big favor I'd like to ask of you. It'll take 20 seconds of your life, but it'll mean the world to me. And that is if you're listening to this on itunes, please leave me a review on the podcast. I read every single review and they're very important, not only for me and other potential listeners, but it helps tell the world that this is a show worth listening to. And the more you let me know it's worth listening to, the more I will do it for you. So simply leave a review on itunes and share with me. What do you like about the show and if there's something you don't like, once more Write to ask bradakenratbusiness.com Tell me what you would fix, Tell me what I could be doing better and I'm happy to listen because we really are doing this together. I couldn't do it without you and your reviews mean the world to me. So until next time, if you have a business problem, wrap it in bacon, bring it to me. Let's see how we can solve it together. I'm Brad Costanzo thank you very much.