Keeping up with the To-do Lists

Be Honest. Not everyone runs on lists. However, if you’re struggling to make sense of your goals, a list could save you time, energy, and the need to come up with excuses for when the thing that needs to happen, well, it doesn’t.

List-making is pretty personal. Some people border on obsessive about them. Others prefer less to-doing and fro-ing. They’d rather wing it, writing important telephone numbers on the backs of their hands or sticking Post-its to their leg, “Memento”-style.

For one thing, the act of writing out a list forces us to set concrete goals (To-do: “Take out the trash.”). This can be way more effective than thinking about vague objectives.

By creating organized to-do lists, you can prioritize the things you need to do, keep track of what still needs to be finished, and feel productive and prepared in all areas of your life.

So, here are some tips which I personally find useful.

Decide what medium works best for you – If your smartphone is in your hand all day every day, use the Notes application to create your to-do list. If you hate staring at a phone or computer screen, grab a pen or pencil and write your list by hand. A to-do list will not be helpful if you dread making it or using it, so choose whatever medium you prefer most. Although it does not guarantee you’ll be ticking it all off.

List all of the tasks that you need to accomplish – Writing absolutely everything down, you will be getting it off your mind and onto paper. It will ensure you don’t forget anything, and hopefully, it will also help your mind feel less crammed. The running list of every single task you have on your radar will be referred to as your primary list.

Keep it simple – There’s nothing more intimidating than a mile-long to-do list. The longer a to-do list becomes, the harder it can be to motivate yourself. But it’s human tendency to back-off at the sight of anything that seems too heavy. Simply put, Looks are important. So, chop it up if you need to but keep it sweet and simple. Create an illusion for yourself forcing you to believe it very easy and do able.

Meet the MIT’s ( Most important tasks) – Prioritize everything. This is the key rule and also the reason why we make a primary list. Remember, so we don’t forget anything and not jumble up the order we need the tasks to be done. Because we’ve a deadline to follow and we all know what happens when we miss one by accident.

Stay specific and don’t stress – We love lofty goals here. We’d love to have all our task done at once, it provides you relief, “I’m done for this week, Freedom here I come “. Nice scenario but seldom does it occur. Every list has a few tasks on it that we’ve been meaning to do for days, weeks, or maybe even years but haven’t yet. For, this we have one of the two reasons, first ” I’ll do it later, I have to do this first.” Or “What is this, I swear I’ll do it someday”. So either it’s not on your priority list or you don’t think it’s important enough to execute.

Be flexible to have a new start everyday – Leave your self with some wiggle room. This will provide you with the space to think, to reboot, to remain on track. Make a new list every day so the same old items don’t clog up the agenda. If something lives on the to-do list for too long, it does not get to-done, and that is to-disappointing.

Self-discipline is a good thing: It’s a key part of maintaining balance, success, and health. But so are pleasure, relaxation, relationships, and hobbies. However, punishing yourself will lead exactly nowhere. Make sure that, among all the scheduling and listing, you block out some time for yourself, whether in the form of exercise, mindfulness, or sitting around in your pajamas.

Your to-do list should be contributing to your happiness, not dominating your life. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t complete all of your tasks. Getting up and trying again tomorrow is the real achievement.

Hope you find this helpful!!