To-Do List Formula: A Stress-Free Guide To Creating To-Do Lists That Work!

by Damon Zahariades

A solid to-do list will reveal the day’s top priorities based on their importance and urgency. It will show you instantly where you should devote your time and attention.

Remember, being productive isn’t about completing a long list of tasks. It’s not about staying busy. It’s about focusing on high-value activities that help you to accomplish your goals.

41% of to-do items are never completed. 50% of completed to-do items are done within a day. 18% of completed to-do items are done within an hour. 10% of completed to-do items are done within a minute.

A large number of to-do items may get crossed off the list, but there’s no indication they’re the right items - the important stuff. This gives the individual a false sense of accomplishment.

because we rely on ill-conceived task management systems, we inadvertently create lists that sabotage our efforts.

The main purpose of your to-do list is to help you organize your tasks and projects, and highlight the important stuff.

It allows you to get everything out of your head, where things are likely to fall through the cracks. By writing them down, you’ll collect them in one place and gain a bird’s-eye view of your biggest priorities.

Your task list isn’t a tool for getting everything done. Rather, it’s a tool that will ensure you get the right things done.

A to-do list without deadlines is a wish list. Nothing more. Without deadlines, we lean toward inaction.

Deadlines are the enemy of procrastination. They motivate us to take action and finish tasks.

There will always be more tasks to finish than the time needed to finish them. Deadlines help us to choose between competing tasks based on the goals we hope to accomplish.

Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

By failing to complete your to-do items day after day, you train your mind to accept that outcome. With time, you’ll lose the drive, or impetus, to complete tasks in a timely manner.

Many people do a brain dump of every task they need or want to get done. They record everything on a single list.

they neglect to categorize these tasks and put them on separate lists according to context, priority, and urgency.

To-do lists that serve as brain dump repositories invariably collect tasks that vary too broadly in scope.

First, faced with a long list of options, you’re likely to either become paralyzed with inaction or spurred to engage in a low-value activity, such as checking Facebook.

Barry Schwartz called the “Paradox of Choice.” The more options we have, the less capable we are to decide between them and the more anxiety we experience as a result.

We wake up in the morning with a limited store of cognitive resources. This store is quickly used up throughout the day as we make decisions. All decisions, simple and complex, take a toll.

decision fatigue. It’s a state in which you’re less able to make good decisions because you’re mentally exhausted from making decisions throughout the day.

your cognitive resources have been exhausted. You’re running on fumes.

This phenomenon is important to understand because it has a disastrous effect on our ability to decide how to allocate our time between competing options. We become less rational, le...

each decision erodes your store of cognitive resources and increases your decision fatigue.

This eventually leads to a predicament known as “decision avoidance.” Confronted with too many options, you avoid picking from among them because doing so requires too much mental effort.

Projects masquerade as tasks when they haven’t been broken down to their constituent parts.

Our goals spur us to take action. We’re less inclined to procrastinate when we’re able to predict the positive result of completing a specific task.

All other variables being equal, the more certain we are of the outcome, the greater the likelihood we’ll act.

you must attach a specific goal to each task on your to-do list. Know the reason each item needs to be completed. If you neglect this step, you’ll be less motivated to get the item done.

1. Do you understand the primary role to-do lists serve in a task management system?

2. Do you assign deadlines - a specific date rather than “by the end of the month” - to each to-do item?

3. Do you limit the number of items on your to-do lists to 10? (If so, give yourself three points.) Do you limit the number to seven? (If so, give yourself five points.)

4. Do you create your to-do lists with minimal variability? Focus on the time needed to complete each task as well as each task’s priority. For example, do you have 3-minute tasks listed with tasks that will take 3 hours? Do you have A-priority tasks listed with C-priority tasks?

Do your to-do lists limit your options concerning what you should spend your time on?

Do you include context for each to-do item so you’ll know whether it’s a high-value or low-value task, and the time commitment involved?

Do you define your tasks narrowly and with specificity so you can quickly identify when they’ve been completed?

Do you associate each task with a specific goal?

After you’ve written down all of the tasks you can think of, you need to organize them according to their importance, priority, context, and other elements.

Your master list is a rolling repository of every task you think of. It’s where you record every item, regardless of its priority, deadline, the time required to complete it, and the project with which it’s associated.

The "3+2" Strategy

three big tasks and two small tasks.

Each day, you select the five items you’ll work on.

The big items should take between one and two hours to complete. The small items shoul...

I’d maintain a master list of every to-do item that comes to mind. I’d make certain each item was specific in scope and attached to a goal. I’d assign deadlines and add contextual details. Each evening, I’d pick my three large tasks and two small tasks for the following day.

The 1-3-5 Rule

Here, you choose one big task, three medium-sized tasks, and five small tasks to complete during the day.

The Project-Based System

This system entails categorizing your to-do items based on the projects with which they’re associated. In the end, you’re left with multiple lists, one per project.

The 3-MIT Approach

popularized by Leo Babauta of ZenHabits.net,

MIT is an acronym. It stands for “most important task.” It’s the highest-priority item on your to-do list. It’s the one thing you must complete during the course of a given day.