Why Create A To-Do List? by Suzanne Scheideker Cook
“Paper is to write things down that we need to remember. Our brains are used to think.” - Albert Einstein
One of my favorite stories about Albert Einstein takes place when he is walking home with several colleagues and one of them asks for his home telephone number. Much to the man’s surprise, Einstein goes to a telephone booth and looks up his home number and writes it down and gives it to the man. Einstein’s colleague exclaims, “You mean you don’t know your own telephone number?” Einstein’s reply was “Why should I remember something that I can look up and write down? I need my brain to do other things.” Getting into the habit of writing your own to-dos frees your mind so it can do the critical work of processing, analyzing, and creating.
There is software you can buy that helps you create daily lists. Some of the most popular are Asana, Monday, Todoist, and ClickUp. There are also countless daily planners you can purchase at virtually any store. I use a journal to write down and then refer to my to-do lists. My lists are organized by the week, month, and yearly quarter. My goals for the year are written at the back of the journal. Each Sunday, I look at my goals and then my schedule for the upcoming week. I use my goals and my commitments to frame my weekly to-do list. From my weekly to-do list, I write my daily to-do list. This may sound overwhelming but it works for me. You need to develop a system that works for you. Here are some suggestions to help you:
Limit your daily to-do list to between 10 and 12 to-dos.
Now, look at your list and add an estimate of how long it’ll take to complete each of your tasks. Put a best-case and a worst-case scenario time by each. For example, you’re going to do your grocery shopping online, and the best-case would be that it takes you 15 minutes and worst-case could be that it takes 60 minutes due to your internet connection, the store doesn’t have what you need, etc.
Add the estimated time to do each task using the worst-case scenario time. Have you allowed time in your to do list for meals, rest, and recreation? If not, add the time for those activities to your to do list.
Prioritize your list. Many time management experts use this rule. Identify what is urgent and important. (An example of this is getting your tax documents together so that you can file your taxes on time.) Identify what is important but not urgent. (An example of this could be making an appointment with your eye doctor.) Identify what is urgent. (An example of this is that you need to pick up your car at the repair shop before closing time.) Identify what is not urgent and not important. (You may be surprised.)
If the to-do is helping move you towards your goals, then it’s important. Your to-do lists should have at least one activity that is moving you closer towards achieving your goals.
There are hybrids but again, you need to find what works for you. Is it putting your to do’s on a daily calendar? Is it a running list of to do’s? You may decide to keep multiple to do lists organized by category or use an app to manage your to-dos.
Personal Challenge: Experiment with how you manage your to-do list. Keep track of how many tasks you complete using each method, and more importantly, decide on which system gives you the most peace of mind.
