Some of us tend to do many tasks at once or what we call multitasking. We were planning to do an important task but decided to make a follow up call before started. And the next thing we know, we’ve spent thirty minutes going back and forth with different parties, replying to a couple of WhatsApp’s, ordered something online and are nowhere nearer to starting the to-do list we’d planned to work on.
Nowadays where we have remote working arrangement, internet connection and cloud based tools, we’re becoming more accessible which also means distractions are easy to come by and difficult to get rid of. There’s also the issue where our manager expects us to be able to manage more than one thing at once. We’re end up doing many but accomplish none and our manager started to questioning our productivity.
If you’re struggling to get things on the roll, then you might want to start with a properly written To Do list. People usually making a To Do list by write down everything they have to do in one long list and ticking them off one by one. The trouble with this technique is that the initial list is often becoming overwhelming and unfocused and therefore doesn’t actually make us productive at all.
Here’re what I found useful in creating a Productive to-do list:
Define the goal before defining priorities.
Before starting a To Do list, it is good that we need to have a clear picture about what goals are we trying to achieve. This is because our goals would help us to determine our priorities.
Goal-setting is a whole separate process but the result of the process should be tasks that we can accomplish. For example, if you have the goal of being able to redesign your landing page within 4 weeks then one of your priorities should be to list down which sections are there on your landing page before starting to working on it section by section. Let your goals determine your priorities.
Prioritize your to-do list.
One of the problem with to-do lists is items on the list are not prioritize. You can easily spend my day doing chores and then panic at some point in the evening because you haven’t done the one important task on your list.
You should have your three most important tasks (your priorities) at the top of your to-do list. Resolve to complete your priorities as early as possible and not to move on to any other tasks before you have done so. This would helps you to be more productive if you completed your most important tasks every day.
Keep it at manageable size
Together with your top-three priorities, you should never have more than five items on your to-do list at one time. This of course just a general rule. As you’re getting more effective later in doing your work than you may rise the cap. You may think that this sounds counterproductive but if you have more than this, you run the risk of not completing everything and feeling overwhelmed as a result.
You can always list down tasks with everything you need to do but remember that your mind should focus on important thing, not thinking on hundreds of tasks. You need to focus on your productivity.
Be specific with your tasks
It is important that you are clear with every tasks on to your list. Unclear task would make you spend extra time thinking on what is this about before you start completing it. For example, one of your priorities is to work on the layout of your Landing page. You could write “change landing page” but this could mean lots of different things. It would be a helpful description of the task would be something like: Change layout of Landing Page into 2-columns. When you are specific you create clarity in your mind which enables it to focus. You can put an asterisk and detail it out on a different place.
Schedule your to-do list
This is one of a to-do list hacks. Once you have your five tasks for the day, take out your calendar and schedule your tasks into your day. It is very helpful to know when you are going to do a task and how long it will take. Putting your tasks into your calendar enables you to block out this time – no interruptions allowed!
Share with us in the comments below what do you do with your to do list?
Have a Productive Proactive days !
