Master The Art Of To-Do Listing

My other half uses Apple notes and a raft of apps, my Dad’s sticky notes can be found in every nook and cranny of my parents’ house and my friend scrawls hers on scraps of paper in handwriting which is, by her own admission, completely illegible to the untrained eye (not helped by a mass of crossing-outs, under-linings and exclamation marks).

To-do lists are deeply personal; there’s no right or wrong way of doing them and what works for one person might send someone else into a tailspin. But one thing all to-do lists have in common is that they’re a double-edged sword, on the one hand creating order in our lives and on the other, overwhelming us and getting in the way of doing things which bring colour to our lives.

Here are a few tips and tricks I’ve sussed out to bring a little more order and colour and a little less pain.

Remember why you have a list in the first place. On the surface, a to-do list is the definition of mundanity and full of godawful tasks we’d rather not do.  But dig deeper and behind every functional to-do are emotional benefits which I often jot down alongside a task to spur my brain into action – 

Get a haircut = feel refreshed, smarter, good about myself, have an easier time getting ready in the morning mayhem

Clear out the spare room = Free up space to create a study/guest room so we’ll have a quiet place to work and friends and family can come and stay.

Create multiple lists. Whilst it may seem like a good idea to have a catch-all list where you store every conceivable task, in reality it isn’t.  Because what you’re doing is creating a giant, looming inventory of obligations which will overwhelm and paralyse you and be counter-productive.  You’re better off creating multiple lists which keep everything organised and mentally streamlined and mean that when you sit down to tackle your tax returns, you won’t be distracted by to-dos about organising your kid’s party.  In my case, I have separate lists for work stuff, personal stuff, family admin (‘fadmin’) and extra-curricular projects like holiday planning or clearing out the shed.  I also have a wish-list for all my future aspirations and a brain dump list where I jot down to-dos that pop into my head at random times until I can record them on their rightful list. 

Be realistic and ruthless. I used to have totally unrealistic expectations around tackling my to-do list.  I’d set myself over-ambitious goals in the morning and then something would crop up or tasks would take longer than I expected (the so-called ‘planning fallacy’ whereby we underestimate how long it will take to get something done) and I’d be an absolute grump come the end of the day when I’d achieved less than half of what I set out to.  

Eventually, I realised that a) skilled and efficient multi-tasker though I may be, I am but one person with twenty-four hours in each day and there’s a limit to what I can get done b) life happens and plans get derailed, I had to learn to roll with the punches and stop allowing my to-do list to call the shots on my mood.

I also adopted this neat little trick, the so-called and one-hundred-year-old Ivy Lee Method whereby each morning, or the night before, I choose the six most urgent to-dos and aim to accomplish those and only those in the course of that day.  That way, I’m not setting the bar too high or myself up for a fall and if I happen to achieve anything outside those six, it’s a bonus and I feel chuffed.  Warren Buffet famously follows the 5/25 Rule whereby he focuses only on his top 5 priorities and ‘avoids at all cost’ the other 20 goals until he has achieved the 5. 

Keep in mind there’s a big difference between real urgency, where things are genuinely time-sensitive - paying a bill by its due date for example - and manufactured urgency where we convince ourselves that something needs immediate attention, like tidying the garden shed, but actually doesn’t and though niggling, won’t do any harm if left for another time. 

Schedule it. Instead of storing your tasks on a list with a view to handling them at some point, allocate a time to actually getting them done by scheduling them directly into your calendar or diary.  Whilst a to-do list tells you what you need to do, putting time in your diary tells you when you need to do it and means there’s nowhere to hide - you’re accountable and have to get the task done in the allocated slot.  It also means you can mentally park it, knowing that your future self is scheduled to take care of it, so it’s the perfect anti-dote to the Zeigarnick Effect.

Spoon-feed your brain. Your brain is a) admin-phobic and b) intrinsically lazy; the less thinking it has to do the better.  So make it as easy as possible for your future self to take action by spelling out a task and outlining the individual steps needed to complete it, and by including on your list any relevant details like a phone number, that will help get the job done.  By breaking things down in this way, you’re giving your brain a clear mental map of how to achieve the task as well as a first step onto which it can latch and from where it can get the ball rolling.

Renew car insurance – Call current insurance 0654 299 3563, compare quotes on comparison site

New curtains - Take measurements, order fabric samples, find fitter, get costs

Call Mum – Ask her about Christmas lunch + how to remove stain + Michelle’s email address + her recipe for baked apples.

Re-brand your list. Few things scream drudge and suck the joy out of me quite so much as those three little words, to-do list. So, I took the simple step of re-naming my lists. Instead of a ‘to-do’ list (so dull) and an ‘urgent!’ list (talk about piling on the pressure), I now have a more positive and inspiring ‘Make life happen’ list and a ‘Crunch time’ list. For anything that doesn’t need immediate attention, I have a calming ‘No rush, it can wait’ list. Of course, these creative tweaks don’t change the fact I have to do the work but somehow, my lists feel less onerous and I don’t baulk quite as much at the thought of them.

Let go. There’s stuff on your list that has been there for goodness knows how long. And chances are, if you haven’t gotten to it after all this time, you never will because there will always be bigger priorities and lower-hanging fruit on your list. So bite the bullet and archive it. By all means record it somewhere - like on a ‘Things I’ll probably never get round to doing’ list - but scrub it clean off your day-to-day lists and leave it to gather dust and cobwebs in a drawer or digital folder somewhere.

Food for thought. In our productivity-obsessed culture, we’ve become so conditioned to valuing our day and ourselves according to how many things we ticked off out list.  But that’s not the point of life.  Sure, we have responsibilities and are subject to the natural flow and busyness of life around us but we mustn’t lose sight of the big picture; that life is for living, for doing things that bring happiness and fulfilment and that are fun, joyful, rich and rewarding.  So instead of only measuring your days and yourself by how many things you cross off your to-do list each day, measure them also by how colourful they are; how much fun you had, whether you took well-deserved time-out for yourself and nourished your body with good food and exercise, whether you did something to make the world a better place or spent quality time with family or friends. These are the meaningful things in life, the things that will bring you real inner happiness, peace and fulfilment.