To-do Lists and Scrum for Your Life

It would be easy to compare the fundamentals of Scrum for Your Life with a simple checklist. “Kevin, why do you make this so complicated. Why can’t I just use a simple to-do list like I always have?” You’re right. When you boil it down to its essence, Scrum for Your Life is indeed a checklist - with a twist.

When you make your daily to-do list, where do your tasks come from? Usually, they come from things that happened the day before, the week before or worse, from somebody else’s list. They don’t get finished and they roll over to the next day and then something new and urgent gets in the way and they roll again. You end up checking boxes everyday, but are you getting ahead? Are you reaching your bigger goals?

Scrum for Your Life differs because the items you put on your To-Do list are taken directly from your larger, long-term goals, and those goals are already aligned with your deepest values. When you check off something as done, it’s not just that you are finished with the task, you are closer to what you define as success. Incrementally for sure, but closer. Can you say the same about your daily To-Do list? Most people cannot because even though there may be a connection back to a bigger goal, without the values exercise that is the foundation of Scrum for Your Life, accomplishing that goal may not make you feel more fulfilled and may leave you feeling empty.

You may have another method that aligns your values, goals and actions the way Scrum for Your Life does. You certainly don’t need to use my methodology. If you do, I’d love to hear about it and how it works for you.