To-do lists help us to stay organized and on track with our daily activities. But it’s not just about staying organized. To get more motivation, writing down your to-do list is an excellent way to plan your day. A productivity author named Mark Forster once wrote his to-do list for the day and put it in a drawer, hoping to remember everything. Instead, he did not complete any of the tasks on his list.
Keeping a simple to-do list
It’s important to keep your to-do list simple. Too many tasks can overwhelm you, so it’s important to separate the important tasks from the nice-to-do ones. Keeping a simple to-do list is also beneficial for your short-term memory. Writing down tasks will not only improve your memory, but it will also clear your mind from cluttered tasks. Be sure to write down just the tasks you need to accomplish today, not tomorrow.
When you’re creating a to-do list, you should put the items that are most important and urgent at the top. If you’re working on a presentation tomorrow, for example, you should prioritize completing the presentation to the meeting before leaving for the day. This will help you stay motivated by separating tasks by importance. You can also use a simple grid to categorize the items that don’t need immediate attention.
Writing down tasks quickly
Putting new tasks on a to-do list is a great way to keep focused on important tasks without wasting time dwelling on smaller, less-important ones. A simple list should be as specific and actionable as possible – if you use the word “outline,” you’re likely to miss a vital task. Also, assign a priority rating to tasks – a one would be more important than a five.
To make writing down tasks on a to-do list more efficient, consider using a task management board. This could be an app on your computer, a white board covered in Post-its, or a stack of index cards on your desk. Regardless of the format, the board should have three columns: “To-do,” “Done,” and ‘Done.’ For each task, move it to the “Done” column or “Doing” column, so you can visually see progress as you go. For more information on to-do list template , checkout this site.
Prioritising tasks on a to-do list
When prioritising tasks on a to-daily or weekly to-do list, it is important to consider the end result of the tasks. What is the biggest benefit you can get from completing this task? Will it make a difference in your team’s results? Will it make you more productive? Which tasks should you prioritise? And how do you prioritize them?
One of the most popular methods of prioritising tasks is the Eisenhower Matrix, which ranks tasks according to their impact. This method is often implemented in software such as Baller ToDo. It allows you to change various parameters, such as the number of priorities and their corresponding impact. It shows your to-do list in four quadrants, each with two axes – Impact and Urgency. Drag and drop your tasks according to their priority on the corresponding axis to see the order of their importance.
The next step in prioritising tasks on your to-do list is to write down all tasks that need to be completed over the next month. You can then write down these tasks on a spreadsheet and organize them on a calendar, according to their deadlines. This method helps you stay focused and more productive. You can also set reminders for important tasks on your to-do list, so you can get started with them as soon as you can.