Tag: Schedule

How to Create a To-Do List

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Life can get hectic. When there is so much to do, it’s easy to accidentally fall behind and miss an appointment or neglect goals. No one ever intends for this to happen. It’s the result of an unorganized mind.

How frequently do you have to stop what you’re doing to check if you have the ingredients necessary for dinner? Do you go back to read the assignment over and over before turning in a project? Was it 8:00 AM or 9:00 AM that your work shift starts on Tuesday?

A To-Do list is a great way to get organized. If you take the time to get all your tasks written down and scheduled in, you’ll be more likely to follow through and accomplish more. And more efficiently, too!

There is absolutely a right way and a wrong way to create a To-Do list. Essentially, the right way is the way that works best for you. The wrong way will lead you to work more on keeping up with the list and less on actually doing tasks.

What I am about to present is the way that works best for me. I think my way is inclusive and detailed enough to work for many. You might agree. Or you might need to change a few elements. I encourage you to look around on other websites and find out what works for other people and create a method that works for you. Because what really matters is your success.

Write Everything Down

I know I discouraged this behavior in my previous post, Downsides of the To-Do List. That’s because this long list is intimidating and overwhelming. I use it regularly now because I figured out how to break it down in ways that are less scary.

Don’t hold back on this list. If it’s something you need to do, then write it down, even if you’ve already made a habit out of the task. Include assignments, chores, appointments, and anything else you can think of. This is also a great opportunity to find ways to break down big projects into smaller, more manageable tasks.

Three Lists

That long, all consuming list needs to be sorted through and made less daunting. Every item on your list will fall into one of three categories.

  • Every day, repeated
  • Today
  • This week

I found the first category to be the easiest to fill. My every day list includes studying, feeding the fish, and washing dishes. You probably already know what you need to do every day, too. It’s a good opportunity to add to that list something that you don’t do every day but would like to create the habit, like journaling or meditating.

If something is on your list and it doesn’t fall into one of those three categories, it’s likely that it’s too large. For example, you might have written “buy a couch” on your list. Before you can do that you need to look at your budget, measure the space, and browse various styles.

Yes, you can use the last category to place tasks you’re unsure of yet. If it isn’t time sensitive or high priority, but you want to keep it in mind, put it in the “This week” list and return to it later.

Time Sensitive Tasks

This part of organizing the big list is fairly easy. Plug in due dates for assignments and times for appointments. Remember to schedule in time to work on the assignments and leave yourself travel time for appointments.

At this point you’ll be looking to fill in gaps with appropriate projects. Maybe you have a big project you need to work on over the course of several days, or want to schedule in time for laundry. This is your opportunity to design your day the way you want it to be. Isn’t being in control nice?

Two Lists, One Day

You probably noticed that you created two lists to work from on a given day. This is deliberate. Your “every day, repeated” list won’t change from day to day, but your “today” list will be different each time you make one.

I set my pattern up so that I wouldn’t have to write the same tasks over and over, day after day. It saves me a little time and worry. This lets me focus on specific tasks on specific days.

If following two lists isn’t for you, then write them down together on one. Remember, the whole point of incorporating this habit into your life is for your personal improvement. Always be honest with yourself and create environments which will help you be successful.

Whether you work from two lists or one, there shouldn’t be more tasks there than you can reasonably complete in a day. Making the To-Do list is the easy part. Completing tasks takes time. If it looks too long, focus on your priorities and find something less important to move back over to the “This week” list.

Execute

You did all the prep work. Now it’s time to go about your day. Complete that list!

Consult your list or lists throughout your day. This will help you stay on track. And don’t forget to cross tasks off as you complete them. It’s oh, so satisfying!

Reflect

At the end of the day, you will be left with one of two things. Either you will have a completed list or an incomplete list.

If you knocked off all of your tasks, go you! Celebrate! Crack open a cold one! Allow yourself to relax!

If you have an incomplete list, then this is a good time to reflect. What is left over? Why wasn’t it done? Did you over-schedule yourself? Do the leftover items reflect your priorities and goals?

It takes time to get used to working with a daily To-Do list. It’s up to you to remember to work on the tasks that are aligned with your goals and to allow trivial items to fall away when necessary. With practice, you can learn to use To-Do lists to get ahead and accomplish more.

Good luck putting yours together! Leave comments. Let me know how you use to To-Do lists. Ask me questions if I wasn’t clear on any section. I look forward to hearing from you!

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Downsides of the To-Do List

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Before I dive into this post, I want to point out that I wholeheartedly do advocate the use of To-Do lists. My experiences with using them have been incredibly positive. My life became more organized. I’ve been able to accomplish more tasks which will eventually lead me to reach my goals.

There are two reasons why I wanted to do a post featuring the downsides of To-Do lists, despite my feelings towards them. The first is that the early days of my adopting this process were incredibly difficult. I gave up many times. This is my opportunity to discuss what went wrong and why it was detrimental to my progress. The second reason I want to write about the downsides is that not everyone will benefit from this practice. If you know yourself well, then exploring the downsides may save you a lot of time and grief.

Here are three major downsides to using To-Do lists. These are problems that I experienced while figuring out how to incorporate using To-Do lists in my daily life. I’ll also include the ways I was able to get around them.

Too Much Stuff

You may be considering adopting the regular use of To-Do lists because you have a lot going on and feel like it needs to be organized. That is great initiative. Go you! So you buy a notebook or download an app and fill in every single task that needs to be done. You even sit back and think through every aspect of your day, add in chores you nearly forgot, and double check that everything is there.

Yikes! That’s a long list!

This practice makes it easy to feel like you’ll never get it all done. There’s simply too much for one person to ever do. You might start tackling one item at a time, but eventually you’ll either fail or give up before you get a chance to fail.

When I got started with keeping a To-Do list, a long list like that was a quick way to guarantee that I’d grab a drink and play games on my phone for two hours. Because if failure is inevitable then why even start?

Though I later found a way to incorporate the long list of everything, I had to eliminate it in the early stages. Getting away from feeling defeated before you even start can be solved by one quick fix.

Don’t write it all down!

Start off by creating lists designed for one day at a time. Only write down the tasks you absolutely must accomplish. If there is time left over in the day to do more, great! Add it on when you have time. But start with a short, reasonable list.

No Prioritization of Tasks

When everything is listed together in one line, there is no discerning between what is important and what is trivial. They all receive the same weight when there is no differentiation from one task to another.

Do you ever give laundering socks the same amount of attention as working on an essay for a class? Is putting the clean dishes away equally as important as remembering to go to a doctor’s appointment?

When we give everything equal value visually, we struggle to complete the tasks that should be given a higher priority. You need to be the one who decides what priority a task has. Maybe you base this on your goals and values. Or maybe some tasks on your list are time sensitive. Then it’s up to you to act on completing tasks that rank higher for you.

I was able to accomplish this by putting my tasks with highest priority on a separate list. I call it my Dailies. These tasks are the ones that will eventually lead to bigger things. For example, my Dailies includes journaling, homework, and essential chores. I designed it so that it doesn’t take up my entire day, leaving me an opportunity to work in other tasks that need to be done, too.

You may want to try my method. Or you may want to try color coding your tasks. Or maybe you’ll have better luck by blocking off tasks on a calendar, giving stronger visual cues to tasks.

Whatever it takes, make sure your priorities come first. No matter how satisfying it is to cross a trivial task off your list.

Leftovers Leave You Feeling Guilty

Seeing a bunch of tasks still listed at the end of the day is painful. It’s easy to beat yourself up when not everything gets done. You might feel inadequate. You might feel like a failure.

Much like listing too many tasks, this is a common place to want to quit. I know I quit a few times because the leftovers drove me insane. It happened to me often enough that I tried to figure out why it kept repeating.

Sometimes it was because I overscheduled myself. You need to remember when creating your To-Do list that the tasks take time. Be honest about how much time they will take. Give yourself some flexibility between tasks.

Other times I had items left on my To-Do list because I was being inflexible. Surprises happen. Emergencies happen. Life can take you away from your day. When this happens, you need to learn how to let go. You don’t have control over everything, and you never will. To-Do lists can make you feel like you’re in control, but that will not always be the case.

If you’ve experienced any downsides with your To-Do list, leave a comment! I’d love to get a discussion going about problems with this habit and how we can solve them.

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Benefits of a To-Do List

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I’m a huge fan of To-Do lists. I meticulously write them out and design my day with enthusiasm. Admittedly, I’m biased about the topic, but I think a To-Do list may be able to help you as well.

I adopted this habit slowly and with some reluctance. But I work two jobs, take classes online as a nontraditional student, blog, and maintain the house. It eventually got to a point where the To-Do list was no longer an option, but a necessity.

This article on benefits comes entirely from my personal experience. I hope you are able to find a way to take what I’ve learned and adopt it in a way that it works for you, too.

Visualize the Day

The To-Do list is a visual experience. It helps you to see everything that needs to be done. Once it’s all there in front of you, it’s easier to plan out your day in a way to accomplish everything that needs to be done in the most effective way possible.

Small Victories

If you designed your To-Do list well, you’ll be able to track your progress throughout the day. This is especially true if you’re working one step at a time on a bigger project like writing a book or researching for a large school project.

Plus it just feels so damn satisfying to cross out a task when it’s done.

Nothing Gets Forgotten

With a To-Do list nearby, nothing will sneak up on you. Everything is already considered. There is already a plan in place to take care of it. There is no excuse to not be prepared.

Even Leftovers Provide a Benefit

It’s easy to feel bad about having un-crossed tasks on your list at the end of the day. They make you feel like you aren’t good enough or that you didn’t try hard enough.

Really, there are a lot of reasons why those tasks went undone. It’s up to you to not get down on yourself. Be proactive and assess the leftover tasks.

  • Did you over schedule yourself?
  • Are you deliberately avoiding those tasks? Why?
  • Do the leftover tasks not represent your priorities?
  • Did you not have the tools you needed to complete the tasks?

As you can see, getting down on yourself for not finishing a list is premature without some type of assessment. Of course, if nothing on that list applies to you and the list didn’t get done because you ate potato chips and watched TV, then, maybe, yeah you should feel a little guilty. That guilt may be good so you don’t create a habit of not getting done what needs to be done.

This post is the first in a mini-series about To-Do lists. Next week, I’ll talk about the downsides of To-Do lists that I’ve discovered while using them. After that, I’ll share my discovery of an effective way of creating a To-Do list that works every time.

If you’re an enthusiast of To-Do lists, leave a comment at the bottom. I’d love to hear about the benefits you’ve discovered from using them!

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