How to Create the “Perfect” To-Do List … And Actually Get Things Done!

For me, list-making is a pretty personal thing. I’m even going to admit I border a bit on the obsessive side of things. But for some, winging it willy-nilly works just fine. Either list-making personality has its flaws … it’s making a successful one! Now, I know you have an awesome list of stuff to get done, so today I am here to help you create the “perfect” to-do list with my step-by-step guide so you can start checking those items off and being willy-nilly with your free time instead!

The ACTION PLAN:

Before we dive into the step in this action plan, I want you to understand and utilize the Eisenhower method in every decision you make about where and how things get placed on each of your lists. To use this method, you need to answer the following … How important is it and how urgent is it? NOTE: What is most important may not always be urgent, and vice versa.

1. Choose a medium that you feel would be most beneficial to your working style to help you create these to-do lists. To offer some examples, I like traditional paper and pen for my day-to-day notes then Asana and Evernote for my long-term notes/goals/timelines. I like to keep things separate for ease of organization.
   
   
2. Make multiple lists for everything you’re looking to accomplish no matter the size. At the very least, you should have one mater list for accomplishing all your short and long-term goals then one which includes your daily tasks, projects and goals (don’t forget to include your HIT list – aka. top three priorities) and lastly, your weekly to-do list prioritized by level of importance then broken down into a schedule of time (e.g. how long will it take me to do?).
   
   
3. Keep things simple and clear because there is nothing more intimidating than a forever long to-do list. Frightening just to think about some of the ones I’ve created for myself in the past **shudder.
   
   
4. Prioritize your list with your most important tasks and break things down into goals and timelines.
   
   
5. Tackle a few easy items before diving into the most important ones.
   
   
6. Include absolutely everything. Yes, I mean everything.
   
   
7. Keep yourself feeling stress free … By this I mean to use your lists for work and play that way you get into the habit of creating (and using them more consistently) but on a realistic basis. As much as you’d like to finish everything in one day, that’s just not possible and most people, including myself, tend to overload them which then makes things impossible to complete. Adjust your expectations so you can feel good, feel accomplished and refreshed and most importantly stress-free!
   
   
8. Be flexible with your time but do try to keep to some sort of schedule.
   
   
9. Focus on one thing at a time. This is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP of everything I listed for you here. The key to an effective to-do list is that the list is prioritized, and you’re focused. The plan is to work your way down the list one simple step at a time.

And lastly, but equally as important as all the other above points …

START FRESH by making a new list every day. You don’t want the same ‘ol items clogging up your time and this will help keep efficient use of that time by not rinsing n’ repeating the similar tasks every day, all day. You want to make sure you get something done every 24 hours and aren’t just spending time doodling on notepads or making “surf the next” excuses.