The One Sure Way to Check Off Every Item on Your To-Do List
The one sure way to make sure you check off every item on your to-do list? Easy. At the end of each day, make a list of everything you did that day and check it off. OK, maybe it should be called a done list instead of a to-do list; still, how nice to be able to check everything off.
Another way, of course, is to make a list of things so obvious and certain that there’s no question that you’ll do them: Get dressed…. Eat breakfast…. Check email…. Walk the dog….
Some people don’t need to-do lists. I know a guy who disdains lists, and in the infrequent instances in which he makes one, he forgets to look at it. Nevertheless, he has accomplished more in thirty-seven years than most people in twice as long.
But apparently, a lot of people who use to-do lists have experienced to-do list failures, and these are presumably people who want to use them. It could be that these people fill their lists with so many tasks that they feel overwhelmed. Or they may have so many priorities that they don’t know where to start. Or they might feel burdened by the things on the list they haven’t done.
If you’ve struggled with to-do lists, there are various suggestions about how you can overcome prioritizing problems.
Create your to-do list at the same time each day so it’s part of your daily routine.
Don’t rewrite the list each day; keep it going so that you have a sense of how long items have been on the list.
Categorize the items on your list so that you have a finite number of categories instead of a depressingly long list of individual items.
Prioritize the items in your list from most important or urgent to least important or trivial and rewrite the list in priority sequence.
Write the items on the list as action items to make it more likely you’ll act on them rather than just think about them.
Interestingly, you can find lots of advice that contradicts these tips. Clearly, there’s no one right way. But be aware that some people feel it’s the list itself that’s the problem, not how you use it. In a blog post titled To Don’t, Jeff Atwood makes a case that to-do lists merely give the illusion of progress. Furthermore, they make you feel guilty for not achieving certain things, suck enjoyment out of the activities on the list, and don’t actually make you more organized in the long term.
Instead, Atwood recommends that each day you come up with the three most important things you need to do that day. That’s it. Just three things, and those are the things you focus on.
Now add “Read this article” to your to-do list and check it off!
