CEOs Shouldn't Have To-Do Lists

Author

Aaron Hayslip

Published

May 23, 2026

Read

6 min

Practices

Delegate, Architect

I went through a major shift with my assistant recently.

I asked her to take on 100% of my tasks and told her I don't want to manage a task list at all. Like I literally do not want to be responsible for having a list of things "to-do" on a deadline.

That may sound reckless until you hear the rules and how we're making this transition.

How I Should Spend My Time

As a founder, I have to view my time as the company's most valuable asset. I'm responsible for 100% of our revenue and the livelihood of everyone on the team, so where that time goes matters.

I told my assistant that my time needs to go to these 4 things ONLY:

• Making important decisions
• Deep work on projects
• Meeting with people (employees and clients)
• Strategizing opportunities (as opposed to problem solving)

That's it. Everything else is hers to do or distribute.

At first this was somewhat aspirational. There are a ton of tasks that require me that I just cannot have my assistant do alone. This week alone I had to approve payroll, review final candidates to hire and sign contracts.

But we created a system for this where I don't need to remember or keep track of these items either. My assistant owns it.

Here's how it works:

1. Get Your Tasks Out of Your Head

Before I can hand my "todo list" off to my assistant, I need to make one.

For the last 2 years I've kept a basic list in Notion. Each item has a "due date" and I usually assign the due date as the day I plan to do the task. Sometimes I add the todos myself, sometimes my assistant or someone else on my team does.

I have a regular habit of reviewing my todos at the end of each day and moving them to the next day whenever I fail to complete them. Inevitably I find myself shifting these due dates around endlessly based on changing priorities (and procrastination).

2. Ask Your Assistant to Own Your List and Spot Patterns

My assistant is full-time, which means her entire job is to make me more productive across my entire life (work and personal). Because she's full-time, she can monitor my calendar, meetings, email and to-do list at all times.

I asked her to spot patterns.

Intervening means she is to either:

1. Take the task from me (if it's something she has all the context to handle)
2. Schedule a "co-work" session with me to knock it out

Eventually none of this touches my plate at all. But right now we're in transition, and this is what the transition looks like: tasks that only I can do start off on my plate and then we figure out how to get them over to her.

What a Co-Work Session Actually Looks Like

As you'd expect, outstanding items that I need to do start to pile up. When that happens my assistant batches them together and schedules a co-work session with me.

Usually this is 90 minutes once a week where we pair up and knock out a week's worth of busy-work.

We're typically working through two types of tasks:

Tasks that only I can do

These suck energy from me, so I need the accountability of doing them with my assistant. I literally screen share and do the tasks while she holds my hand through them.

Sometimes when I'm doing these tasks, I realize they're ones she could handle. Since we record the meeting, she can use the recording to do them herself in the future.

Examples from this week:

• Invoicing a new client (she had the amount calculated and the invoice prepped, I just had to review and hit send)
• Issuing a corporate card for a new hire (she had the SOP pulled up, walked me through each step)
• Signing a contract that needed my signature (she prepped the doc, I filled in the blanks on the call, she sent it out)

Tasks that she can do but needs my decision or context

Examples from this week:

• Following up with my accountant about a tax notice. I gave her the context on the call and she sent the email that afternoon.
• Reviewing candidates for an open role. I gave feedback on each profile while she took notes, then she packaged the summary for the team.
• A vendor agreement that had been sitting in my inbox for two weeks. I told her what terms I wanted, she handled the rest.

I didn't have to prioritize tasks, keep track of deadlines or do any busy administrative work. I just showed up. She had the list ordered by priority and walked me through each item. I either made a decision and gave her next steps, or we did the work right then and there.

What This Actually Enables

Here's what my morning looks like now. I wake up, take my kids to school, go to the gym, work out, shower. Then I grab a cup of coffee, sit down at my desk and open up whatever project I'm most excited about.

This week that was writing this newsletter, vibe coding a new sales tracking system and building internal tools for my team. Work that gives me genuine joy and also moves the needle for the business.

There's no list I have to knock out before getting to the real work.

The Bottom Line

This doesn't work with every EA and it doesn't work if you're not ready to let go. Both sides of that equation matter.

If you're curious where you stand, we built a 5-minute assessment that gives you a clear picture of how you're spending your time and what to hand off first.