It’s not so easy to stay perfectly organized all the time, especially when we are overworked and have lots of things to do every day. The simplest way to keep track of daily activities is creating the to-do list. But how to make it efficient and stop forgetting about our assignments?
We’ve prepared 5 hot tips to help you organize the day into a handy list of tasks. The productivity improvement is closer than you think – follow them, and you’ll be impressed with the results!
5 Hot Tips To Create A Perfect To-Do List!
Choose your own way
I assume that in your head you have already made a strong decision to improve the way of time management so that there is no need to write a separate subpoint for an obvious thing. As the first step in ordering your day-to-day affairs, I suggest you choose the medium you will use. Fortunately, there are many ways to keep track of your to-dos, so it all depends on your preferences.
Sticky notes are already familiar – they are perfect for saving your fleeting ideas. To understand something, it is best to collect them in one place, such as on a cork board or envelope, so you will not lose any of them and forget what happened to you the previous day or what you should do tomorrow. However, this system will not work for messy people (like me) – after a few days, it will be difficult for you to reach the order and composition with scheduled tasks.
Another analog method I tried myself was bullet journal, a technique for controlling your tasks in the form of a notebook. Bullet journals on Pinterest are beautifully crafted, decorated with cute sketches, and each table has meticulously crafted ornaments.
Check our to-do list templates!
Watch this video and find out how to create your own bullet journal!
However, bu-jo is not just about aesthetics, but the writing of current tasks and long-term goals in it to make it easier to control their performance and achievement. Bullet journal, unlike other planners, does not have a rigid framework – we start it on any day of the year, and we keep it as long as we have enough sheets to finish the next one. This is a very convenient and creative way to write up your to-do list and watch your appointments. But before you start planning in this way, try to plan how to run your notebook to put an order instead of little creative, in this case, chaos.
In addition to using analog methods to create a perfect to-do list, you can also use desktop applications and their mobile versions, like Todoist or Any.do. They will allow you to control your affairs without having to set up lots of papers – we usually carry the phone in the pocket or bag, and working on these devices consumes a lot of time every day.
Two to-do lists to rule them all
Task planning should be broken down into short-term and long-term. You wonder maybe, why – in the end, we still write everything down, keeping an eye on whether the tasks were done. Nothing more misleading – to keep the peace of mind, we were switched on both the present and the distant ones!
Regardless of the technique you use, try to prepare a list of tasks for a particular day, and write down things that happen cyclically in the week, month, and even year. This method will make it easier for you to summarize and determine which goals were met and which may require more time or have to be postponed. Cyclicality will also introduce you to a routine of action that will not miss any current affairs!
Remember to tick off!
There is a psychological factor in the planning of the tasks. It is not easy to switch from chaos to order, and everything that requires the resignation from things we’re working on currently is tough to implement. Therefore, it is worth making it easier to manage your time as much as possible to be able to keep your hand on the pulse.
I watch over all the things that I manage to do. Whenever I put a check on the finished to-do or achieved a goal, I am very proud of myself that I got my own again and stood up to the task. Believe me that this works incredibly motivating, and the view of the whole week or month, blown with the crosses marking a successful result brings a big smile on my face. And I always say “Keep it up!”
Try not to overload the to-do list
Excessive tasks cause chaos, it’s well-known. The more I wrote down to do for the next few days, the less eager I got to do it … not to mention keeping the right level of performance.
The simplest recipe for this mess turned out to be shortening the list of tasks and spreading the points for the next few days. Again, it turned out that the simplest ways turn out to be the best and there is no reason to over-combine. I know my abilities, and whenever I know I can’t handle my goals, I just make some modifications, and I move some of the stripes to the weekly list or distribute them for the next few days. Advantages? Sure, lots of them! I do not forget anymore, I do not do anything in half-assed, and I do not put off for the last moment.
Eat the frog!
Do you know the Eat The Frog method? Its principle is very simple – we start with the most difficult task, the most troubling for us. Thanks to its application we get rid of this heavy feeling that is hanging over our obligation to make it. Does not that sound fantastic?
The most laborious task I always put at the top of the list, so immediately after turning on the computer and everyday organization to undertake its implementation. There are days when other, more pressing matters distract me, and the task is delayed spontaneously. I’m not doing this problem – I’m just trying to get everything done as soon as possible and get back to my cases.
👉 Find out more about the Eat the Frog technique!
Extra tip: save as much detail as possible! Sometimes the passwords alone are not enough to remind us what we wanted – especially when we reviewed the monthly or annual list. And do not forget about giving hours, dates and places. Besides, once you include the same task in your letter again, you will be able to determine how much time it will take to do it!
Remember, that you can track time for your activities with TimeCamp!
And most importantly: let yourself be in a certain slack! There are always situations that will destroy our perfectly planned plan. Time availability, e.g. 15 minutes between each task, will allow you to master the situation during the crisis!