How to Create an Effective To-Do List
If you feel guilty about a never-ending list of things to do and you don’t particularly enjoy creating to-do lists, read on. I want to share how to create an effective to-do list and start ticking things off to make it work for you and increase your productivity.
It might be surprising to learn that creating a practical to-do list is an art of its own, but it’s true. There are ways to increase your chances of completing tasks successfully and using them to your advantage. With the right strategies, to-do lists will help you create a better flow for each day and achieve bigger goals in the long run. Here are my tips for creating an effective to-do list.
Pick where you create your to-do list
First things first: choose where you want to create your to-do list. Some people use apps, and others use the good old-fashioned paper, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Apps provide more features (like reminders) for to-do lists; however, paper is an excellent place to stay focused on the tasks and not get distracted by other things on your device. Whatever you choose for recording your tasks on, make sure it suits your lifestyle and habits.
Categorise or make more than one list
If you prefer having one to-do list for work, household and personal - you can divide your list into these categories. However, another effective way is to have separate to-do lists for each area of your life, which will help you focus on tasks more effectively.
Include due dates
Include due dates for all tasks - whether they have set dates or not. That will help you with accountability and motivate you to tick those tasks off. Some tasks may not have hard and fast dates, but having a date that you feel is reasonable for completing each task is recommended to plan out your day, week or month.
Include only up to 5 tasks each day
This is personal for everyone and depends on what type of work you do; however, I suggest being reasonable and include up to 5 tasks on your daily list. First, write down the first 3 top tasks you need to complete today and then decide whether you need to add more or stay with that. It might be enough, and you end up with a reasonable list that won’t set you up for failure. Having a small number of important tasks on your list will increase your chances of completing them and won’t overwhelm you.
Check your to-do list regularly
Don’t just create a list and forget about it; use your list during the day. It will guide you and keep you on track with what you need to do. The more you check your list, the more you remember what’s important, the more success you will have in completing all tasks that day.
Tick your tasks off
When you tick things off, the feeling you get when you tick things off is of accomplishment and relief, so make sure you tick those tasks off and enjoy the rewards of increased productivity.
Revise your to-do Lists at the end of each week
It is essential to check your progress and recognise downfalls after any activity, and to-do lists are no different. Allocate an hour at the end of each week and go through each day to assess whether the included tasks had reasonable time for completion and whether you could create a better flow next week.