What's on your To Do List?

It helps when I start the day with a plan of what I want to get done.
This doesn't always happen, but when it does I always feel really productive.
Simple, this isn't brain surgery, it is basic Covey 7 Habits stuff.

What is striking though are the items that show up on my list.
As a startup guy, it could be anything and the kitchen sink.

Looking at my list right now, I have

• 3 separate ppt presentations to work on
• A couple of invoices to deal with
• Creating a post mortem template
• Answering client emails
• Blogging
• Updating my financials
• Going for a run

I think the idea is that working at a startup demands that we all wear many different hats.
Ya, duh - everyone has heard this before, but we have to be great at changing gears and quickly.

This can be a bit overwhelming at times, so take a break now and then I suppose.
Learn to embrace the fluidity of this path.

"Prethink" - Yah, It's a Word

I was a pretty active Toastmaster a couple of years ago.

First off, what a fantastic organization -> I'm not going to do my self-improvement sales pitch right now, but it's coming.

In Toastmasters, members prepare and give speeches in order to further our public speaking skills. A member of the audience is assigned to critique the speech on a number of points, one of them being grammar.

After one of my speeches, the person assigned to giving me feedback mentioned that I had used the word "prethink". Their point was that this was in fact not a word and I should find another way to say what I meant. Let me dispute this.

I believe that "prethink" is a word with a meaning that is applicable and critical to numerous aspects of our lives. Prethink means to plan in response to potential ad-hoc conversations or scenarios. An example would be: "I have a call with so-and-so in 10 minutes. How should I respond if they ask me about that issue they were concerned with?". 

You may argue that "Plan" is the word for this, but I see this as a much more fluid and on-the-fly skill. It's about building a short-term strategy for an important interaction. "Planning" is good, but I want to use it for more brick&mortar style decisions. Just like saying "cloud" instead of "time-sharing", prethink conveys a different energy than plan.

What do you think?
Is this a term that should make it into every-day use?

~Brian