Most likely you have a busy schedule with many tasks. It can be difficult to stay organized and manage all the topics in an efficient way. Every day the list just grows bigger and bigger and it is difficult to get control. If this sounds familiar, do not worry, you are not alone. There are many methods for staying organized, but creating an efficient to do list is not easy.
In this blog post, we will explain the most efficient to do list methods.
Effective to do list techniques
1 - Efficient collection of incoming to-do’s
The first thing you need to ensure is to have an efficient collection process for your incoming tasks. It should be easy to record new tasks, without having to directly jump into them. This ensures that nothing slips through while staying focused on what you were doing.
2 - Organize your tasks frequently
The second thing you need to ensure is to have good routines for assessing the many open topics. This is a crucial part of do list best practices.
Maybe you are finding yourself too busy to make progress on your long-term goals. Maybe you are running around putting out fires all day long.
A study from the Journal of Consumer Research found that our attention is drawn to time-sensitive tasks vs. less urgent tasks even when it offers less rewards. This explains why we have difficulties with time management since we are likely to focus on tasks with deadlines over tasks without one, regardless of their long-term impact.
Here Eisenhower's urgent / important principle comes in handy. It is a simple technique for considering the long-term effect of your to-do’s and focusing on the ones that will make you the most effective.
Important and urgent tasks require quick action, while important and not urgent tasks can be scheduled. Not important, but urgent tasks can be delegated, while not important and not urgent tasks can be deleted.
To utilize this concept in an efficient way, you should classify your tasks by deadline (urgency) and importance. An efficient to do list allows you to quickly organize your tasks by these two dimensions, in order to efficiently prioritize how to spend your day.
3 - Track your completed tasks and create plans
The third thing you need to ensure is to track and assess your progress. This makes you reflect upon your work and the satisfaction of completed achievements. This is also a good time to ensure that the most important tasks are being prioritized.
After having reflected upon your achievements you can create a plan to further help staying organized. A weekly plan can help keep unwanted tasks from sneaking into your to do list. It can provide a way to keep the big picture while using an efficient to do list.
Read more about effective to do list techniques in the Harvard Business Review article: I Tried 4 To-Do List Methods. Here’s What Worked
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