How To Organize Your To Do List

Tired of having an overwhelming to-do list day after day? Well I got you covered.

I’m going to share the secrets on how to organize your to do list so you can finally start powering through it.

Organizing your to do list isn’t really rocket science, but do you know what it is? Trial and error.

Yes, you start keeping a to do list one way and out of nowhere it no longer works. Which causes you more stress than tasks you have to get done. If you’re like me then you probably have several areas of your life that you have to take care of – family, work, yourself, volunteer organizations, etc. Usually the thought of combining all of your to do lists sounds like a good idea, until it doesn’t.

When your to do list starts looking more like a puzzle then it’s time to try something new. I’ve found the busier I get the more detailed my to-do lists need to be. And the more separated they need to be.

But there is an exception to what I’m about to share with you…

If any item on my to do list has a hard deadline then the due date gets added to my digital calendar. Typically with a reminder so I can make sure to get it done on time. However, if there is no hard deadline then I add it to my to do list.. at some point in the future.

Alright, here’s how to organize your to do list:

You’ll need a spiral notebook and a pen.

Typically you will need to keep a separate sheet of paper or list for each area of your life. So for me there’s a page for:

family
work
blog
Women Aware – volunteer group I’m involved in.

Not only do I write down every. single. thing. that needs to get done for each area, but I also create a deadline. So for instance, let’s say I need to make a dentist appointment, a grooming appointment, and meal prep. Well I will write each one done and then next to it write down when I need to have it done by. For work I may have reports that need to be completed, letters to write to send to clients, and an appointment to prep for. Once again, I write down the task and create a due date next to it.

Do this for all the areas in your life – separate your areas onto different pages, write down all your tasks, and create deadlines.

Once you have a general list for all areas of your life that’s when your time blocking or daily to do list comes into play. Next, take the top three to five tasks that you want to get done. Now these tasks could come from one list, two lists or a combination of all your lists.

On a typical day my top 5 usually has one task from family, one from blog, two from work, and one other. However, the closer I was getting to the annual Women Aware conference then the more my daily top five were coming from my Women Aware to do list.

Now I feel that I need to include a disclosure – the top 3-5 daily list is not all you will work on through out the day.

These are the important tasks to help you reach your goals and help keep your life running smooth.

Life happens. Each day will not be perfect. There will be days you’ll be hit with fires (hopefully not literal fires) that demand attention. Client needs a report ASAP, you get sick and have to go to the doctor, and so on. It happens.

The goal of your daily top 3-5 list is to help you keep moving forward to reach your goals.

Having this type of organized to do list will do is help you focus.

Yes, focus.

It will help you think about only the task at hand without getting too overwhelmed. A mom notebook is also a good thing to have so when something pops into your head that needs to get done, but it’s not urgent then it can be jotted down. Once it’s written down my philosophy is that it will get done.. at some point.. but other tasks that are more important or more urgent will come first.

Now at the end of each day, spend a few minutes creating your daily top five list from your notebook. This will help you get ready to hit the ground running the next morning.