Do you ever get overwhelmed by the daily doses of hustling and bustling? Do you feel like the pressure of balancing work and personal responsibilities keep getting bigger and bigger?
One of the sure-fire ways of completing your daily tasks is to create a to-do list. This list acts as a tool that guides you in all areas of task completion, such as highlighting your tasks for the day and tracking and timing your progress, and it also helps you to achieve a productive day.
But it’s not enough to just open the notes app, type your chores, and wait to get sprinkled with the magic dust of productivity. You need to follow some guidelines to make the most of your to-do lists. And we’ve got just the perfect set of tips for you to follow.
7 Pro Tips For A Better To-do List
Choose The Medium
The first step to a productive day is to select what medium works best for you. If you spend the entire day on your phone, that’s an excellent place to start. Head over to your notes app or download similar apps that allow you to organize the day’s tasks.
List Every Task From Top To Bottom
Time to get cracking. Think of this step as similar to the grocery shopping ritual of creating a list of items to buy. After choosing your preferred medium, make a list of all the chores you have to do.
When writing down all your tasks, you don’t need to worry about organization or following a pattern, get every possible thing out first so that your mind will feel less clogged.
Sort Into Categories
Once all the junk has been poured out of your head, it’s time to sort the tasks into categories and order of importance. Each set of tasks can have its tag based on the type of work e.g. “things to buy” or “house chores”. You can also rank these tasks according to their level of importance. That way, the more demanding tasks are completed first.
One List For One Day
You might want to list out all your tasks and goals for the week or month in the hope that you finish them faster. However, this is counterproductive and can even overwhelm you a lot more.
Instead, you should focus on listing and accomplishing the tasks for the day alone. Taking each set of tasks one day at a time is a steady process that guarantees better results.
Time Each Task
Speaking of doing things at their own pace, you should always set time limits for the completion of objectives. Based on the workload and effort needed, your tasks should have specific and realistic timeframes attached to them.
This gives you a crystal clear overview of how many hours of the day you need to devote to the list, and it helps you sort out your day. It helps to add at least 10-15 minutes intervals between tasks to catch a breather.
Make The To-do List Accessible
You don’t create a to-do list and then fold it into a drawer or keep the application in the background and call it a day. Your list should be made accessible all day to serve as a reminder of what you’ve done and what needs to be done.
You can pin the paper list to a fridge or pin the app list on your screen so that whenever you go grab a drink or look at your notification bar, your list will be staring at you.
Share To Your Calendar Or Friends
This is simply to have a reminder for the completion of tasks. When you sync your lists to your calendar, you can set a reminder for before, during, and after the completion of the tasks.
Also, when you share with friends, they can check up on you, and you definitely wouldn’t want to disappoint them.
