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

by Damon Zahariades

Most people misunderstand the function of a to-do list. They believe it’s a tool that should help them to complete every task they think deserves their attention. On the contrary, a solid to-do list will focus your attention on the right work and prevent you from getting sidelined by less-critical items.

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

There are serious consequences to this approach. 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. This is what 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.

Consider a college student who needs to prepare for an exam. The to-do item “study for exam” is imprecise. “Complete practice problems on pages 171 - 175” would be more effective as it gives the student a specific task to address.

There are other problems with the “massive, all-inclusive” list approach to task management. But at this point, you get the idea. This strategy leaves a lot to be desired. It’s worth pointing out that doing a brain dump is an important step toward creating an effective to-do list. But it’s a first step. 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.

This feature of the “3+2” strategy makes it compatible with popular time management strategies like the Pomodoro Technique and timeboxing. For example, schedule four pomodoros - each composed of a 25-minute work segment and 5-minute break - to complete one of your big tasks. Allocate time boxes that give you the time you need to complete your smaller tasks. The “3+2” strategy improves your focus by limiting the scope of your task list. With only five items to work on, you’re less susceptible to distractions.

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.

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.

The purpose of a batch list is to organize all of your tiny tasks in one place. Tiny tasks are items that take less than 10 minutes to complete. The idea is to batch them together and address them during a single work session.