Do you ever look around your office and realize “shit… I have so many sticky notes, notebooks, etc. I have literally no idea what’s updated/recent/etc.”? I’ve been there- thinking that just getting it out of my head would be enough, but it wasn’t. Before I knew it, I was totally overwhelmed and I didn’t understand why I couldn’t get in front of the eight-ball. Then one day sitting in my office, I looked around and realized the chaos I was taking out of my head was now surrounding me every day. So let’s talk about what was going wrong, so you know everything you shouldn’t be doing when it comes to your to do list.
1. You don’t add deadlines
This is the first, and probably biggest, mistake that people make for their to do lists. At first, I felt like having a “deadline” on a tasks was pointless- clearly it needs to get done “soon” since it’s on my list… which in a sense is accurate. However, when you’re staring at a list of 7-8 items that take time to complete, plus all your additional “daily” work (emails, IMs, meetings, etc.), that list can be quite daunting.
Deadlines allow you to prioritize what work needs to be done first — in a sense, creating a method to the madness of a busy day! When I suggest this, the first thing people do is add a deadline to every task, which isn’t wrong, but also isn’t always the most “helpful”. Deadlines should be reserved for work that actually have deadlines, not work that needs to get done but doesn’t have a true date of completion.
2. There’s no prioritization
Now, you’re probably wondering “if I don’t have a deadline, how do I prioritize it?”. This work takes some thinking, but over time comes more naturally. Prioritization on tasks is how you decide what gets done first if there’s no clear deadline, or a slew of tasks that need to be completed by the same date. For example, if you have two tasks:
To Do List:
1. Paying your Virtual Assistant
2. Creating your content calendar for the month
You’re clearly going to want to pay your VA first- not only because you always should be paying for services sooner than later, but it’s also going to be a quick “check” off your list. You should always think: what can I do first, that has the most impact with the least amount of time dedicated to it.
3. You don’t have one list, you have many
It can seem like a brilliant idea- a fresh, new to do list for each day of the week with all of your “new” items of the day housed on it. But, this only perpetuates that you’re not prioritizing or tacking deadlines onto your work. The goal of creating a clear progression of work is having one singular to do list. This ensures that work doesn’t get lost in the sauce of the day, week, month, etc. Creating one clear list keeps all of your important work in one place, leaving you with one “brain” vs multiples.
In a research paper by E. J. Masicampo and Roy F. Baumeister on the topic of to-do lists and why people love/hate them, they posit an interesting theory: that once we’ve committed to a “plan of attack” (so to speak) it allows us to feel like it’s off our mind until it’s time to address the task(s). Now what about the anxiety that comes with having a to do list? Well you’ve already alleviated all of the uncertainty leading up to this point by setting clear deadlines and priority to your tasks!
4. You don’t clean up & migrate tasks daily
This ties directly into the above. Having multiple lists may be the way for you to avoid writing the same tasks over and over again, but let’s be honest- if you’re re-writing the same over again, maybe it’s time to re-evaluate that task. Task migration allows you to “cross off” everything off before creating a new list- all the dopamine of crossing things off without ‘falsely’ doing so!
5. You don’t make a to do list daily
To do lists should be one of the firsts (and last) activities you do when starting your morning. Whether that’s at home or at work, having a clear understanding of what’s “on the agenda” for the day starts you off on the right foot (alleviating stress of the ‘unknown’, stress about forgetting something important, etc.). The key to being consistent, with the least amount of brain power, is automating your reoccurring tasks as possible. Essentially- the more routine and brainless a tasks is, the better chance you have of sticking with those habits consistently.
Pro Tip: You’re only tracking YOUR tasks
I consider this last item as an “expert level” tip. As someone who’s job it is to literally make sure people do their work I find this tip truly invaluable because not everyone realizes that others aren’t tracking what they’re responsible for. I don’t add these tasks to my personal to do list, unless it’s following up about someone else’s work, but I do track them somewhere else (my preference is Teams, but to each their own). I also make these locations available to my clients so they can also track what they’re responsible for, and giving them no excuse to “not know they had an action item”.
If you follow these tips when you’re creating your to do lists, you are guaranteed to see an increase in your productivity! It’s difficult enough keeping track of personal and work tasks, make your life a little easier by having an effective to do list and lifestyle habits that create consistency in your life. Interested in learning more tips to create consistency and balance in your work and personal life? Check out the rest of our accountability and productivity posts here.
