Does your to-do list ever stare you in the face and make you break out into a cold sweat? Do you feel like you can’t get it all done? Or maybe you don’t even know where to start because it is just so overwhelming.
There is an easier way! You can be the boss of your to-do list! Do you want to know how?
There are 5 tasks that will help you defeat your to-do list.
Create a monthly brain dumping list.
This list is a running list for the whole month where you write down EVERYTHING that is swirling in your mind. This is includes: thoughts, ideas, dreams, tasks, goals, anything that comes through your mind.
This list does not need to be organized unless you just want it to be organized into category. My opinion is just make it simple.
There are a few ways to create this list so that it will serve you well.
- Create your monthly list in your planner, if you have a paper planner.
- Create a note on your phone, if you’d prefer digital. This is super easy for a lot of smart phone users because you can tell your phone to add a note for you by “speaking it”. This is helpful on the go.
- Create a spreadsheet on your computer if you are on your computer a lot.
- Create a monthly list in a journal if you prefer to use a journal for your thoughts.
How ever you decide to create your dump list, make sure it is somewhere that will be easy for you to access all the time. Also, only have one place where you put this list, if you have too many places your list won’t serve you well and it will become ineffective.
After you create your monthly brain dump list you will need to…
Make sure ALL activities, events, and trips are inserted in your calendar.
Whether this is in digital format or paper format, it is very important that you have these items on your calendar so you know how to schedule your to-do list around your daily routine. Adding these items to your calendar should include what, where, when, and who.
After everything is scheduled, this is when you are going to tell your tasks on the list where to go and how to fill your time.
If you are familiar with Dave Ramsey, you will know that he talks about telling your money where to go and what to do, instead of the other way around. Our to-do list is no different because it’s our time we are talking about. We must tell our to-do list what to do so that we don’t waste our time and our tasks don’t rule us. So, here’s how we are going to do that.
Look at your brain dump list and pick out the items that are time sensitive. Circle those items and one by one put those on your calendar according to the day the task needs to be done.
Here’s an example: If you are baking cookies for an event and you have to have them on a certain date, go ahead and schedule that on your calendar.
If you are scheduling something that is going to take multiple steps schedule those steps as well.
We will continue the cookie example: If you need to bake cookies, you need to schedule a day you will buy the ingredients, schedule a day that you will bake the cookies, and then schedule the day that you have to deliver them.
Next, the items that are not time sensitive, should be placed on your calendar in similar task groups.
Here’s an example: If you have a list of people you need to call on your list, set aside a block of time to get all of those phone calls knocked out. Or is buying a birthday present is on your list, pair that with a shopping trip already scheduled for your weekly groceries.
If you have items that will take an extended amount of time, break those down into bite-sized pieces that you can do over several days.
Here’s an example: I had a sewing project on my list and I knew it would take me more than a 30 minute session. So, I broke the task into a four-part scheduled job. One day was to cut the fabric, one day to monogram the fabric, one day was to sew the project, and one day was to finish loose ends.
This can be a challenge for me because I love working at something until it’s done, but life does not always allow for that. So, I have learned to let go and complete one portion at a time.
Continue this process until everything on your brain dump list is complete.
Maybe this seems like a daunting task. Or maybe you are not able to accomplish everything you schedule. What do you do then? Do you just give up or do you keep trying?
Here’s a couple of suggestions when this happens, because it will happen.
First, give yourself grace!
You do not have to be perfect, because no matter how hard we try NONE of us are. So, if you have scheduled things for a specific day, but at the end of that day you have unfinished tasks, just move them to another day. Just keep trying to accomplish them. Remember, try and try again, don’t give up just because you didn’t do it when you thought you should.
Second, reevaluate and prioritize the items you are having a hard time accomplishing.
You might realize that an item is not as pressing as you once thought, or you realize it can wait until next month. Some items that you initially thought were of great importance sometime change because your month has not turned out how you had planned, and that is ok.
One last helpful tip, as you take each task off your brain dump list and tell it where to go, mark it off. Draw a line through it. This may sound so silly and weird that I would even tell you to do this, but there is something about marking each task off that fuels your productivity. It’s a visual reward in a funny kind of way, that makes you want to cross off another task.
This method of accomplishing your to-do list is very simple and easy to use, but I also know that this type of scheduling can be hard for some. If this is you, please send me your questions! I’d love to help! Leave a comment.
