A Leadership Reminder: Your To-Do List Is Not A Plan

I love keeping to-do lists. They help me stay on task, keep track of my progress, determine who should be doing what, and so much more. But I have to constantly remind myself that a to-do list is not a plan. Starting a to-do list isn’t the creation of a plan, and crossing that last item off the list (as satisfying as that feels) is not the completion of a plan. It’s just a list. Helpful, to be sure , but it’s not a plan. If I want to get things done, I need a to-do list. If I want to get important things done, I need a plan.

November 3, 2017

by Karl Vaters

I love keeping to-do lists. They help me stay on task, keep track of my progress, determine who should be doing what, and so much more.

But I have to constantly remind myself that a to-do list is not a plan.

Starting a to-do list isn’t the creation of a plan, and crossing that last item off the list (as embarrassingly satisfying as that feels) is not the completion of a plan. It’s just a list. Helpful, to be sure, but it’s not a plan.

If I want to get things done, I need a to-do list. If I want to get important things done, I need a plan.

Author

Karl Vaters

Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of five books on church leadership, including his newest, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next. His other books include The Grasshopper Myth and Small Church Essentials.
Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast,The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry, featuring in-depth interviews about topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.
Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.

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