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

by Damon Zahariades

This action guide isn’t meant to be skimmed and shelved. It’s meant to be read and applied.

what a solid to-do list strategy will do for you: First, it will give you control over your workday. You’ll know what you need to work on and what can be put on the back burner. A good task management system will make your workday less chaotic. Second, you’ll be able to meet your deadlines. 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. Third, your to-do list will ensure you’re working on the right tasks at the right time. Accordingly, you’ll get urgent items done and be able to focus on less-urgent items as time permits. Rather than feeling overwhelmed, you’ll feel like you’re ahead of the curve. Fourth, you’ll avoid wasting valuable time putting out fires. Remember, your task list will show you what you need to work on based on each item’s urgency. You’ll learn to rely on it to manage your time. A proper list will prevent you from reacting to events that seem like crises. Instead, you’ll assess each situation based on your current workload, and make rational decisions regarding where you should spend your limited time.

Speaking of productivity, a proper to-do list will help you to get more done in less time. Importantly, you’ll get the right things done. 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. Sixth, your task list will greatly reduce your stress. You’ll be able to meet your deadlines, and thus won’t experience the constant, unpleasant, creativity-killing pressure that accompanies completing tasks late. You’ll avoid being distracted by supposed crises, which will make you feel more in control of your workday. You’ll concentrate on high-value tasks, which ensures you’ll spend your time in the most efficient manner possible. Seventh, a properly designed to-do list will improve your focus. When it comes to getting things done, focus is where the battle is won. As noted above, your list will show you where to spend your time. You’ll know which tasks carry a higher priority than others, and thus deserve your immediate time and attention. Focus is what allows you to get important work done rather than waste time on minor or trivial activities. Lastly, a good task list will eliminate the frustration and guilt you feel when you fall behind on projects. It will help you to work more smartly and with greater purpose. You’ll focus on items that move you closer to your goals, giving you a real sense of accomplishment at the end of each day.

courtesy of productivity app developer iDoneThis. 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.

Fourth, the data above suggest that many people approach task management without having a clear grasp of their schedules and availability.

The above describes the Productivity Paradox. We create to-do lists to help us organize tasks, manage our time, and get things done. But because we rely on ill-conceived task management systems, we inadvertently create lists that sabotage our efforts.

the eight most common reasons people fail to get through their lists. Any one of them can wreck your productivity and prevent you from getting things done on time.

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.

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 do more than just impose a sense of urgency. They help us to prioritize tasks and projects based on the amount of time we have to complete them. Additionally, when they loom, they spur us to take action.

Deadlines are the enemy of procrastination. They motivate us to take action and finish tasks. They also help us to gauge the effectiveness of our time management efforts. If we’re consistently getting important things done on time, we must be doing something right.

Many people do a brain dump of every task they need or want to get done. They record everything on a single list. The problem is, they neglect to categorize these tasks and put them on separate lists according to context, priority, and urgency.

Items that will take three minutes to complete are listed next to items that will take three weeks. High-priority tasks are listed next to low-priority tasks that can be put on the back burner indefinitely. You’ll also find items associated with a wide swath of unrelated projects. In other words, there’s no connection between the various tasks.

psychologist 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.

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. In other words, your cognitive resources have been exhausted. You’re running on fumes.

To-do lists that present too many options exacerbate this problem. They force you to make unnecessary decisions concerning which tasks to work on. As mentioned above, each decision erodes your store of cognitive resources and increases your decision fatigue.

“decision avoidance.” Confronted with too many options, you avoid picking from among them because doing so requires too much mental effort.

One of the greatest failings in most to-do lists is a lack of context for individual tasks. Items are written down without any indication about the time needed to complete them, their priority, and the roles they play in achieving specific goals.

The problem with broadly-defined tasks is that they’re too large in scope. Many lack a clear starting point and ending point. As a result, there’s no way to properly measure success.

Projects masquerade as tasks when they haven’t been broken down to their constituent parts. Because the individual to-do items are left unspecified, it’s difficult to know when the projects have been completed.

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.

Strangely, many people forget this principle when creating their to-do lists. They write down (or record online) every task that comes to mind. But they fail to associate these tasks with specific goals. Consequently, they end up spending their limited time working on to-do items that matter little to them in the long run.

A score of one signifies that you need help and a score of five signifies that you’re proficient.

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? 5. Do your to-do lists limit your options concerning what you should spend your time on? 6. 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? 7. Do you define your tasks narrowly and with specificity so you can quickly identify when they’ve been completed? 8. Do you associate each task with a specific goal?

32 and 40 points, consider yourself a to-do list ninja.

19 and 31, you’re doing reasonably well, but could stand to improve select areas of your task management strategy.

If you scored 18 or fewer points, you need to rethink your approach to how you create your to-do lists.

So if you’re having trouble staying productive during the workday, take stock of your emotional state. Are you struggling with feelings that are siphoning your motivation?

Once you’ve identified whatever is triggering your negativity, you can take steps to change your circumstances and relieve the pressure.

#1 - The Massive, All-Inclusive List

#2 - The “Task + Starting Date + Due Date” List

#3 - The To-Do List Twosome: Master Task List + Daily Task List

#4 - The "3+2" Strategy

This to-do list system follows a simple formula: three big tasks and two small tasks. Each day, you select the five items you’ll work on. (Or better yet, select them the night before.) The big items should take between one and two hours to complete. The small items should take 30 minutes or less. You’ve probably already noticed one of the main strengths of the “3+2” strategy. It limits the number of tasks on your daily to-do list. There are five. No more. No less. Another strength is that it defines the scope of each task with respect to the time allotted to complete it.

This feature of the “3+2” strategy makes it compatible with popular time management strategies like the Pomodoro Technique and timeboxing.

Personally, if I were to use the “3+2” strategy, here’s how I would do it: 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.

#5 - The 1-3-5 Rule

The “1-3-5 rule” is an extrapolation of the “3+2 strategy” described in the previous section. Here, you choose one big task, three medium-sized tasks, and five small tasks to complete during the day. While the “3+2 strategy” limits your focus to five tasks, the “1-3-5 rule” expands the number to nine. The first advantage to this approach is that it gives you more flexibility than the “3+2 strategy.”

#6 - The Project-Based System

One of the drawbacks to a project-based system is that it offers very little structure with regard to how you spend your day.

#7 - The 3-MIT Approach

This strategy may be familiar to you. It was popularized by Leo Babauta of ZenHabits.net, although he openly admits it originated elsewhere. 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. 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 would you turn your attention to other items. The “3-MIT” approach is a common variant. In fact, it’s probably more common than the single-MIT approach because it’s more practical for a greater number of people. As its name implies, you select three high-priority tasks to focus on during your day. Whatever else happens, you must get these three items done. Depending on how much time you need to complete your three MITs, there will be days when you get through your to-do list early. You’ll have plenty of time remaining to work on other to-do tasks. There may also be days during which you have to work late in order to complete your three MITs. As with any task management system, the effectiveness of the “3-MIT” approach is in its execution. The details are left to the user to define.

Having said that, the idea of focusing on just a few MITs each day is a practical one. It’s a feature you may decide to incorporate as part of the strategy you design for yourself.

#8 - The Kanban Method

The Kanban method is a more visual approach to task management than the systems we’ve covered thus far. It’s a great to-do list strategy if you enjoy seeing your projects and tasks in various stages of completion. Here’s how it works: 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.”

First, it provides a visual representation of your projects and tasks. This makes it easy to identify high-value items that need your immediate attention.

Second, the Kanban method allows you to track the progress of individual tasks.

third advantage of the Kanban system is that tasks can be easily associated with larger projects.