Billionaire Virgin Group founder Richard Branson loves making lists.
"I live my life by writing [them]," he says.
And those lists have been crucial to his business success, according to Branson.
It's a habit he's had since a young age: He recently found his 1972 diary with a handwritten to-do list from Nov. 6 and posted it on his blog.
The list reads:
1. Learn to fly
2. Look after me, you, boat
3. Entertain everybody with me
4. Invite nice people back
5. Start getting the small house together at The Manor
6. Start buying odds and sods for The Manor
7. Work with me on projects/sort me out
8. More shops to be found
Of course, "the crucial part of a to-do list is in the name — you need to actually DO the things on your list," says Branson in another post.
Branson did learn to fly (via hot air balloon). He also founded and opened more Virgin Records shops (No. 8 on the list), 13 in total.
In fact, the year after writing this list, Branson and his co-founders launched the Virgin Records label from The Manor, the Oxford, U.K. house he used as a recording studio (also mentioned on the list).
An album it released, Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells," (whose title song was the theme music to the movie "The Exorcist") made Virgin its first $1 million.
Branson sold the label for $1 billion to EMI in 1992, in part to fund Virgin airlines, according to Reuters.
Over his career, Branson has built hundreds of other far-ranging businesses under his brand too, from Virgin Cola, to financial services company Virgin Money, to movie theaters with Virgin Cinemas. According to the company's website, he's founded eight billion-dollar companies in eight different sectors.
"It's fun taking a walk down memory lane, and seeing how far we've come and what we've achieved," writes Branson, who now has an estimated $5 billion net worth.
"Take a look at one of your old diaries. Have you achieved a lofty goal that you wrote down?"
Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook.
Don't miss: Billionaire Richard Branson: I've never felt like I've 'made it'
