How to Create the Perfect To-Do List

One of the most effective ways of becoming organised and improving your productivity is by creating a to-do list. Sometimes trying to remember everything you need to get done in your head actually makes the list seem longer! Having things written down just gives you the peace of mind that you won’t forget anything.

Also, there is just something sooo satisfying about physically crossing off a task after completing it. It makes you feel so accomplished, and being able to see the list getting shorter gives you the motivation to keep going!

So how do you create the perfect to-do list? If you just write everything down in a jumble, it can actually be more confusing than if you had no to-do list at all! So I thought I would share some ideas with you about how to create the most effective to-do list.

Narrow It Down

To make your to-do list more manageable, try to break it down into realistic goals. To do this, I like to keep 3 to-do lists. One monthly, one weekly and one daily.

• Your monthly to-do list allows you to focus on long-term goals. Think about something big that you want to accomplish (for example by the end of the year), and give yourself monthly goals to make sure you are always doing something to work towards your goal.
• The weekly to-do list is for keeping track of short-term goals, such as work and assignments. Keep this one up to date, and try to incorporate smaller steps each week that contribute to your monthly goals.
• The daily to-do list is the one you will refer to the most often. This is where you can break down your weekly to-do list to decide exactly when you will complete all the tasks.  I would suggest making these to-do lists in the evening. That way you can wake up and kickstart your day knowing exactly what you need to accomplish.

Prioritise

Being able to prioritise the items on your to-do list is really the key to utilising them effectively. To do this, I split a daily to-do list into 3 columns: Priority, Distant Deadline, and Anytime.

• The ‘Priority’ column is for the tasks that NEED to be completed that day. No ifs, buts or maybes! This list is the most important one for you to focus on completing. So if you don’t have time to finish everything, make sure these tasks are done first!
• The ‘Distant Deadline’ column is for the tasks that do have deadlines, but you have plenty of time to complete them. In your daily to-do list, tasks that you want to work on that day, but not necessarily complete, are perfect for this column. For example, if you are a student, an essay due in a month’s time could go on this list.
• The ‘Anytime’ column is for the tasks that have no deadline whatsoever. They are just things you want to get done! I’ll bet right now you can think of something that you’ve been meaning to get done for weeks, but you just haven’t got round to it! A lot of people exclude these items from a to-do list just because they aren’t a priority, but that’s how you end up with so many odd jobs that need doing! If you write them down in this column, you can use any free time you have in your day to complete them. You’ll be surprised how quickly this list disappears, even if you do just one thing a day.

Add Some Fun!

This is something I highly recommend doing to give yourself the motivation to power through your to-do list. Add a couple of items on there that are fun! For example, you could add watching an episode of something on Netflix or reading a couple of chapters of a book. This way, you make sure that you have some time to unwind and you’re not overwhelmed by boring jobs! I would limit this to only a couple so you don’t get too carried away and end up not getting anything done! But it is important to schedule some time for yourself. and what better way to do this than actually putting it on your to-do list?

So there you have it! Now you can create the perfect to-do list to help you become more productive. I hope you have found this helpful! And as always, feel free to comment or contact me with any questions or suggestions!

-Becky