Walton's List

"Except for reading my numbers on Saturday morning and going to our regular meetings, I don't have much of a routine for anything else. I always carry my little tape recorder on trips, to record ideas that come up in my conversations with the associates. I usually have my yellow legal pad with me, with a list of ten or fifteen things we need to be working on as a company. My list drives the executives around here crazy, but it's probably one of my more important contributions." - Sam Walton

In recent years I've become a checklist-maker. I carry some type of writing pad with me, and whenever someone gives me a good idea or a task to do, I draw a small rectangular checkbox, and then write the task next to it. When I complete that task, I check the box. In the meantime, it reminds me of what needs doing. I also use that pad to record good ideas like the ones that the LMC class poured out last night during our end-of-day debriefing. We're going to pass that input along to the Steering Committee and see what kind of difference it makes.

Sam Walton described himself as thoroughly unorganized. So if he finds success by list making, how much more might we find who are more organized naturally?