Courtiera

How to create the perfect to do list

Reading Time Icon 6 min read

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.
Amelia Earhart

The most people crave for living with purpose and intention. Humans need goals to give their life meaning- to really be happy and content.
But some of us fall for the fallacy of color-coded calendars and to do list in the pursuit to micromanage life for the next 10 years ahead. So we end up spending more time for planning, than actually achieving something and hence feel frustrated and overwhelmed. Whereas on the other extreme of the spectrum, people tend to forget what they actually want to achieve and how. The lack of a strategy and a tactic in life leaves them frustrated and overwhelmed as well.

But all in all we can state that most people tend to finish planned tasks, appointments and projects before unplanned ones.
Therefore it is advisable to set deadlines and schedule projects as well as tasks.

But instead of micromanaging a calendar you should focus on the results you want to achieve and not on the activities. Therefore, choose purposeful and intelligent deadlines and target dates. Set a strategy and a tactic for yourself. A goal without that is merely a wish.

How often and how far should I plan my life?

Plan in regular time intervals not only the present or coming day but also the present week, the next four or six weeks and 12-18 months on the basis of your personal goals and principles as well as upcoming events.

How do I cerate the perfect to do list?

The perfect to do list helps you to achieve your goals. It is a tool that enables you to be more productive and more efficient . Every second you invest in planning should therefore be valuable and leading to accomplishments.
So start with a smart way to create a to do list- not just with any list making method.

1. STEP: INTENTIONS

Ask yourself what will make the planning period (e.g. month or day) a success, as well as what qualities you need to demonstrate so that the success becomes reality and does not just remain a wish. Record your thoughts on this by also recording negative expectations and wishes and derive an intention for the planning period from this.

Ask yourself the following questions in this process:

  • What really matters most in making the planning period a success?
  • Which attitude do I need to make it a success?
  • What negative expectations do I have? How can I challenge my expectations? What counterevidence might I seek out? Can I set my concerns aside?
  • What do I want to see more of? Where do I want to focus on?
  • My intention for the period of planning is…?

2. STEP: FROM GOALS TO TASKS

From the set intention and expectations (see above) you then derive your SMART-goals (what you specifically wish to achieve in a measurable, accepted and time related way) for the planning period.

As a rule, simply setting a smart goal will not lead to its achievement. As a result, three additional steps should follow the goal setting to derive smart tasks from your goals

  • What specific steps and guidelines will promote the goal?
  • How can one be held accountable so that it is more difficult not to pursue the goal than to pursue it?
  • How can an evaluation and reward system be introduced?

3. STEP: TIME MULTIPLIERS

Furthermore, consider in your planning that various tasks can be combined to achieve the goal (time multiplier).
Multiple parts of ourselves are often attached to different goals, so that goals compete with each other.
But with the limited resource of time it would be great to achieve multiple goals at the same time, so that one single activity will become a double or triple activity
(multiplier; not multitasking).

Exercise:
Label 6 roles in your life (sister, partner, friend, parent etc.) and write them in circles; consider the activities deprived from your intentions, connect them with each circle and list them next to the circle.
Which are your favorite activities of each circle? Circle the favorite activities that show up next to the most number of selves . These are your multipliers.

With the combination of ideas and activities you can achieve more than one thing where you couldn’t do all at ones.

4. STEP: CATEGORIZING/ BATCHING

Try to assign categories to the tasks and color-code them if necessary:

  • in depth thinking/ creative work (green)
  • responding to emails etc. (communication) (blue)
  • reading/research (red)
  • meetings (yellow)
  • administrative tasks (orange)
  • personal projects (purple/pink)

Then you can divide the categorized tasks into free time blocks (20,30,40,60 or 90 minutes) and try to organize them together(batching) in order to save valuable time and cognitive resources.

Use your personal most productive time to work undisturbed on an important project for yourself without interruptions from others (energy curve).

5 STEP: ONE MINUTE TASKS- LIST

No matter how hectic and chaotic your day is, finish at least one thing a day-no matter how small. The feeling of completion (and especially of checking things off and crossing them off) reduces stress. Therefore it can be useful to have a list of short 5-10 minute tasks at hand to integrate them step by step into your day. (The One Minute To-Do List).

How much of my to do list and plans should I keep in mind?

Although you should always keep the big picture in mind, it is psychologically more advisable to deal only with the planning of the current period – so that you always have, for example, only the to-do list of today (maximum for the next two days) in front of you.

Extra-Tip: How to stay motivated

Before starting a new task, ask yourself the following questions in order to dedicate yourself to its implementation with maximum productivity (if necessary, you can also record these thoughts in your to-do list):

  • What is interesting about them?
  • What is the bigger reason for doing them? Why is it important? Benefits?
  • How will it feel to accomplish the task?
  • How can I use my strengths to do them?
  • When has this been done before? Can I learn from it?
  • What is the first small step of the task?
  • What is the ideal outcome of the task?

Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Resources and further reading material: