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

by Damon Zahariades

The original strategy called for identifying a single MIT, and focusing on its completion to the exclusion of everything else. Only after completing this item w...

The “3-MIT” approach is a com...

As its name implies, you select three high-priority tasks to focus on during your day.

If you struggle with procrastination, are regularly waylaid by distractions, and suffer a lack of motivation, an open-ended task management strategy isn’t a good solution. A structured system with well-defined rules and less latitude is likely to be more useful.

The Kanban method is a more visual approach to task management

Grab a cork board and a stack of Post-It notes. Make three columns on your board. Title the left column “To Do.” Title the middle column “Doing.” Title the right column “Done.”

The Kanban method involves writing down each new task on a Post-It note, one task per note, and sticking it in the “To Do” column.

When you start working on a task, you move its associated Post-It note to the “Doing” column. When you’ve completed the task, you move its Post-It note to the “Done” column.

you can use different colored Post-It notes to represent varying levels of priority.

You can use apps like Trello, KanbanFlow, LeanKit, and Kanbanote.

The Matrix system was popularized by the late Stephen Covey, author of the acclaimed book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It is also known as the “Eisenhower Box.”

It’s a tool used to decide how to allocate one’s time among competing tasks. A matrix is made up of four quadrants titled as follows: Important - Urgent Important - Not Urgent Not Important - Urgent Not Important - Not Urgent

Those placed in the first quadrant should be addressed immediately. Those in the second quadrant are less dire, but should be scheduled to ensure they’re addressed at some point in the near future. Tasks in the third quadrant can be delegated to others while tasks in the fourth quadrant can be abandoned.

find yourself constantly asking “Is this task necessary?” as you review your matrix.

Unnecessary tasks can be discarded without guilt. You’ll end up spending more time on high-value items and wasting less time on low-value ones.

it doesn’t require you to provide context for the tasks in the mat...

Getting Things Done (GTD)

David Allen’s Getting Things Done is one of the most celebrated task management systems in use today.

These items float around in your mind. There’s no plan to take action on them, which leaves open loops. We want to get these things done, but we haven’t committed ourselves to their completion. Open loops cause us stress.

GTD seeks to get this stuff out of your head and onto a list. It makes each item actionable, thereby closing the open loops.

Once items are on a master list, you spend time organizing them according to context. Part of this process entails creating multiple list...

Oftentimes, people who struggle with task management need more constraints on their freedom, not less. Such constraints can help them to rein in bad habits and improve their focus.

not everything in your head deserves a place on your to-do lists. Much of it will be irrelevant to your goals. Much of it will waste your time. Recording every item can make you feel as if you’re getting buried under a mountain of minutiae.

Some people claim that setting goals is not only unnecessary and useless, but harmful in the long run when it comes to task management. I disagree.

use a “current task” list to decide how to allocate your time and attention each day. This list will carry the to-do items that must be completed before the day ends.

use a “future task” list to keep track of all the items that will need your attention at some point. You won’t use this list during the course of your workday. Instead, you’ll refer to it at the end of the day to create the following day’s to-do list.

“next actions” list

“next physical, visible activity that needs to be engaged in, in order to move the current reality toward completion.”

The simplest way to get through your daily to-do list is to assign a “why” to each item found on it. Know the reason the item is on your list. Determine why you need to get it done. Write the reason down next to the task.

You’ll be more likely to follow through on it if you see the reason for doing it.

It’s not enough to keep the reasons for doing tasks in your head. You must write them down. Doing so makes it material. A reason written down is more real than a reason bouncing around in your head.

You’ll find that when you associate tasks with specific outcomes, you’ll feel more co...

When we’re faced with a large project, it’s difficult to know where to begin. Consequently, we become more prone to distractions. Any distraction is preferable to grappling with an endeavor for which we lack direction and momentum.

If we don’t invest the time to break down projects to their smaller, more manageable pieces, this motivation-crushing process is likely to repeat itself day after day.

Make sure your to-do lists are limited to actionable tasks, not projects. If an item requires more than one action, it is a project that can - and should - be broken down. By breaking them down, you’ll enjoy better focus and get important work done more quickly.

Attaching a deadline to every item on your master to-do list makes it easier to know which tasks to select for your daily to-do list.

make sure each deadline is realistic.

come up with a reason for each due date.

You have a reason to act. The reason makes the deadline genuine.

When a deadline is set without a reason - that is, the date is arbitrarily chosen - there’s less impetus to take action. The sense of urgency is artificial.

give yourself less time than you th...

We tend to allow ourselves too much time to get things done. You’ll find that narrowing the window will improve your focus and result in greater efficiency and productivity.

I strongly recommend limiting the number of items on your daily to-do list to seven.

My “limit-to-seven” suggestion refers solely to tasks that require at least 15 minutes to complete.

Make your bed Check your voicemail Sort your mail Start a load of laundry

These are “tiny tasks” that don’t belong on your daily to-do list. Why? Because they

It’s common to treat the master task list as a rolling “brain dump.” New tasks are added to the bottom of the list as you think of them. The problem is, if you leave it in that condition, it will eventually become overwhelming.

I now organize tasks based on various contexts: by project, type, and location. I maintain multiple lists accordingly. (Note that these lists are separate and distinct from my daily to-do list.)

categorize each task on your master to-do list using the following three contexts: Project Type Location

Categorizing to-do items by project, type, and location will keep you organized. It will also help you to choose tasks for your daily list that complement your circumstances.