I asked successful people what the secret of their success was. I【B1】______

I asked successful people what the secret of their success was. I (36) recall an early discussion with a vice president of a large oil company. "Oh, I just keep a To Do List," he said. I passed over that quickly, little (37) suspecting the importance of what he said.
    I was in another city the next day, and I had lunch with a businessman who (38) practically owned the town. He was chairman of the gas and light company, president of five (39) manufaturing companies, and had his hand in a dozen other (40) enterprises. I asked him how he (41) managed to get everything done. "Oh, that’ s easy, "he said. "I keep a To Do List."
    The first thing in the morning, he told me, he would come in and list what he wanted to (42)accomplish that day. He would arrange the items in order of (43) priority. During the day (44) he would cross off items and add others as they occured to him. In the evening he would check to see how many of the items he had written down still remained undone, and then give himself a score. (45) His goal was to cross off every single item.
    Again and again in the years since, when I have talked to successful people, the To Do List has come up. I have found that one difference between people at the top of the ladder and people at the bottom is that (46) those at the top use a To Do List every day to make better use of their time; those at the bottom don’t.