To Do Lists vs. Outcomes
To-do lists are dangerous, because they don’t allow room for change or flexibility. A to-do list is created to produce an outcome. When someone is focused on the to-do list that their superior has told them to follow — but not on the outcome — it can be dangerous. Most people will follow the to-do list because they think they’ll get in trouble or fired if they don’t. This inability to focus on the desired outcome has been the cause of many unsatisfied customers, employees, managers, bosses, teachers, students, etc. Here are a few examples of people following a to-do list that I’ve seen from personal experience:
Example 1: I’m next in line at a soft-serve yogurt store. There’s a married couple in front of me, paying for their purchase. The couple’s order totals $10.01. The man gives the girl a $10 bill. The girl says, “Sir, it’s $10.01….” The man politely asks the girl working the cash register if she could spot him the penny because he had only large bills left. The girl says, “I’m sorry, sir. I’m not allowed to do that” (she was following a to-do list). The man starts getting angry and gives her a piece of his mind. The man breaks a $20 bill because of one penny. He says, “F%#& this place — I’m never coming back.” In the chapters on sales, I mention the importance of the lifetime value of a customer and how important it is to the success of a company. This girl was given a to-do list, and she followed it so strictly that she caused the loss of a customer forever! I’m sure the CEO of that yogurt company would have fired this girl in a heartbeat had he or she seen her inflexibility in handling the to-do list she was given. She should have been taught that one of the most important factors in any business success is customer satisfaction. This company lost money — over a penny! — as the result of a to-do list. PS: I didn’t have a penny. I was using a card, or I would’ve helped the man out.
Example 2: A person working at a restaurant who is supposed to ID everyone ordering a drink who doesn’t look older than 35 or whatever the to-do list says. I’ve had my parents get ID’d when one of them didn’t have their ID on them, and they weren’t able to order a drink because of it. My parents are in their early 50s. This person was following a to-do list, and he focused only on the part that said, “ID everyone!” when the desired outcome of the to-do list was to not have anyone under the age of 21 drinking. My parents probably won’t be going back to that place anytime soon.
Example 3: I used to have a to-do list as to how I would handle things — what I would and would not allow myself to do. I wasn’t aware of this to-do list because it was deep in my subconscious mind. Only when I started personally developing myself did I become aware of this internal to-do list of how I would do things. We all have this, whether we’re conscious of it or not. I use to handle situations a certain way because of who I saw myself as — how I thought someone like that would behave. Confusing? I’ll explain this more in depth in the chapter Who Are You? What Is Your Identity? It explains how your identity determines your behavior.
Remember that people who follow to-do lists can be dangerous. Rather than blindly follow a to-do list, ask yourself what result you’d like to produce or the outcome you’d like to have. Then create a list of some strategies for best producing the outcome you’ve chosen, but leave room for flexibility. Don’t set your list of strategies in stone. Always leave room for improvement and adjustment to any plan.
Random Fact
Tiger-shark embryos fight each other in their mother’s womb. Only the survivor is born.
