I. Loves. Lists. I have tons and tons of lists just sitting in my “Notes” app on my phone. Luckily, it’s linked to my laptop so, at any point of time, I usually will have access to these lists. I have everything from grocery lists to classes I’m interested in taking to personalized gift ideas for everyone in my life. Hey, don’t judge! It’s pretty fun 🙂
One of the lists that constantly, and I mean CONSTANTLY, is in my phone would be a To Do List. It’s one of the most basic categories of lists. Throughout the day, I am always updating/adding/removing tasks on the list. I just love the satisfaction of crossing things out as I finish what I’ve allotted myself for the day. It’s one of the best ways to BE and FEEL productive. If you’re into this already, perfect 🙂 If not, don’t worry because I’m about to fill you in on some things to get you started on this!
Let’s do this.
TIP 1: Write things down
Don’t count on remembering everything. Writing things down changes the game. The best part about making a physical list, and not just keeping it in your head, is that you can physically see IF and WHEN you have time for each specific activity. You won’t be overshooting or undershooting and, in turn, you’ll always be accurately estimating your level of productivity and efficiency throughout the day.
TIP 2: But write EVERYTHING down
Not all tasks have to have an immediate deadline. Not all of them have to even be work-related. It can also just be the things that you really want to complete that day, just for your own satisfaction, because in a way, this is technically “required” for your own sanity 🙂
Maybe you really need to get a pedicure today because no other day in the week works out for you. Maybe you have to organize your study space today because that’s what is hindering you from being productive the rest of the week. Maybe you really need to buy groceries today. Just make note of anything and everything.
TIP 3: Distinguish various levels of priority
What do I mean by this? It’s super simple. Once you have your to do list, do a quick mental check of which of these activities you really NEED to finish today. Maybe group those into one category. Whatever it may be, pick what is important and put that at the top of the list.
TIP 4: But you don’t always have to do the important ones first
Okay, hear me out on this one. I know you may have a ton of things you have to finish today, but one of the best things you can do to boost productivity is to quickly sneak in those small tasks you listed as least important.
Let’s say, for example, Task #1 on the list is taking a long time. You were going to take a quick lunch break anyway and you realize one of the tasks you put on the list was “Wash water bottle” because it’s been forever and all that gunk is just piling up. You’re going to be in the kitchen anyway – why not quickly clean that bottle while you’re at it? You’re probably thinking – um why did I prioritize everything in the first place then? Prioritizing is still a good idea, but the time you took to clean that bottle was most likely not cutting into any of your precious time since you were going to grab lunch from the kitchen anyway AND it probably only took two minutes. Simple 🙂
To help you out, here is an example of a To Do List that I wrote for myself a while ago (back when I wasn’t so busy haha!):
Do you see how I wrote down everything, and not just the work/study related ones? I even wrote down something as simple as washing my bottle, because it’s something I can quickly check off whenever I have the time.
The first group of tasks had the things I needed to complete today, no matter what. They were non-negotiable in my opinion. However, the second group consisted of tasks I would like to complete today if possible, but I wouldn’t beat myself up for if I couldn’t get to them.
Try out some of these tips for creating your own to do lists and let me know what you think!
Love,
Snigdha
I have been struggling with “Trying to stick to the list” literally all of my life and I still can’t get it right. Sometimes I wonder if I should make another priority list with just one task that says – ‘Make a To-do list for today’.
And even on days that I manage to finally make a list – I rarely complete them a 100%. I think the problem most of the times is with the expectation. Expectation to complete it. And not being ok or happy with the little things.
As you rightly mentioned under point 4 – you don’t have to always do the important ones first – it is completing these small tasks that really give you the satisfaction and help you move forward. That’s so true.
Good job Snigdha. Loved the post and I really think this might help me step up my to-do list game. Shall implement these when I make my to-do tomorrow for sure 😀
Hi Vijai! Thank you for being here! One thing I do that I found has been really helpful is creating my to do list the night before. Some people prefer this because they know exactly how to allocate the next day’s time. In the morning, you can always edit as you need, say if a meeting got cancelled or you realized one task was already done, etc. I also like to keep it very visible and not in a hidden place. This way, it’s right in front of me and I find myself coming back to it often. But you are so right with the expectation aspect. One thing to remember is that our worth is not measured by our productivity or how much we are able to accomplish in a day. We are worth it no matter how much or how little we do. And, not every day will be filled with insane productivity. Sometimes there are just neutral days, and that’s completely okay too! Check out a post I published a while ago that kind of delves into this:
Wise Words From Kirk Franklin
And thank you so much for the kind words – they really mean a lot to me! So glad you are looking forward to taking the next steps for your personal list 🙂
I feel like the main issue with the to-do list is with the items which we have to finish in long term, short term ones like buying groceries can be done easily but the long term one’s like lets say learning a new skill in a month or may be 6 are the ones difficult to accomplish as procrastination takes over and the task doesn’t get finished which in turn leads to loss of confidence, demoralization etc. How do you suggest that we tackle this ?
Good point! Thanks for the comment! I practice this with my to do lists everyday, even for long-term goals. Think about it for a second: long term goals are nothing but a bunch of short, attainable, reasonable goals right? That’s exactly how we have to approach it. For example, you mentioned learning a new skill. Something you can do, and this works wonders for me, is write down something like “Work on XYZ skill today for 1 hour” in your list/planner at least 3 out of the 7 days. Or, you can be more specific and write “Work on Part 1 of XYZ skill” on Monday and “Work on Part 2 of XYZ skill” on Wednesday. Then you can repeat that every week, editing as necessary. You want to be able to see that A) you have divided up the long-term task into a bunch of manageable short-term goals, B) the length of time you chose to work on it per day is actually something you can dedicate your time to, and C) in one month, you would easily be able to finish that long-term goal. I always find this helps me because any long-term goal seems daunting at first. When we feel like we are not achieving sufficient progress, we tend to give up and, like you mentioned, lose confidence. But the good news is that, by dividing it up like this, we can achieve and celebrate those small wins. And this is exactly what keeps us going 🙂 Hope this helps!
What a lovely idea!!
And such a lovely way to proceed with that idea!!
Thank you so much for these cool articles!👏
Thank you Abhi! 🙂
I love the idea of tip number 4!! In fact all the items in your to do list have an equal amount of “satisfaction factor”, no matter how high or low you rate them in terms of priority. By chipping away at easy tasks throughout the day we essentially de-clutter and pave the way to handle more difficult things.
Thank you!! And exactly!! I found that that chipping away at those small tasks, like you said, is the key to productivity!