Why every comms pro needs a killer to-do list

If you want to be successful in comms, you’ve got to learn to love a list. Press lists, guest lists, news editor lists, broadcast lists, event lists, they’re all part of our working days. But what about your own to-do list? How do you do yours?

I am now borderline fanatical about list-making, but it wasn’t always the case. 

At the start of my career (with zero experience and 10 clients ranging from hedge funds to hairdressers) I tried the ‘I don’t need a list’ system. Big fat fail. Had a go at sticking post-it notes to my desk. Failed again. Then my boss Delia intervened and introduced me to her ‘divide your page into four’ system. Tick. 

So, how does it work? 

Thanks to Delia, my list (and those of many people I’ve worked with) is still split into four sections on the page of a Moleskine notebook (the stationery is almost as important as the list itself). For me, these sections are:

1. Client priorities
2. Managing other people’s time i.e. tasks I’ve assigned or asked for help with, or things I’m helping my team achieve
3. New business and marketing
4. Media – follow-ups / important sell-ins / newsjacking opps 

It’s always a work in progress, never complete, ever evolving. But that’s the point of this four-quadrant magical system. 

Updated first thing in the morning. Rewritten at lunchtime when more tasks have come in and a few things have been ticked off. Updated again at the close of the day so I can enjoy a good evening (with my notebook close to hand).

Other people do it differently. 

• Our head of consultancy has two lists on the go. A ‘to do’ quadrant and a ‘critical to-do’ list with deadlines
   
• Our international client engagement director does hers in a journal, with tasks assigned to specific days. Again, the stationery matters a lot. I am very jealous of her handwriting (and even her crossings-out look tidy). She has been known to write something on her list that she has already done, in order to be able to cross it off. Psychologically, this can be a winner. 
   
• Our SVP EMEA uses her commute to make notes on her phone (as does the CEO of our Foundation at the end of the day) 
   
• A couple of our campaign managers and senior campaign managers make weekly lists with overarching priorities. Supported by daily ‘must get done’ lists (including highlighted sections / stars for super pressing tasks) – again in notebooks

But the principle is always the same. Why have a system at all? 

We live in a noisy world. Email, Zoom, Teams, WhatsApp, DMs on social media. We’re always on. Lists create structure for your day. They show your progress and put you in control. 

This is critical in a fast-paced industry where our days aren’t always our own. When the media agenda and client priorities can change in a heartbeat. Or a crisis or new business opportunity suddenly changes the urgent actions on your ‘critical’ list. Also, once you write something down, you don’t have to take up valuable brain space remembering it.

This week, our executive creative director flagged a piece in the Telegraph about why ‘multi-tasking is bad for your brain’. (A number of colleagues cheered.) The piece cited a study by professors Baumeister and Masicampo from Wake Forest University which showed that, ‘while tasks we haven’t done distract us, just making a plan to get them done can free us from this anxiety’.

In support of having a ‘system’, author and speaker on ‘Crazy Busy-ness’ Zena Everett asks people a great question. When do they ‘Think strategically, take a step back, focus on what’s important, or do some deep work?’ 

For me, writing and re-writing my list provides that healthy natural pause. Reflecting on what you’ve done and still have to do. Pushing ahead vs getting pulled in multiple directions.

Get the ‘To Do’ list right and you’ll drive results. I’ve seen it first-hand. 

Niki Wheeler is a director specialising in PR and media strategy at global marketing agency Team Lewis.