Boost Your Productivity: Why Your To Do List Doesn’t Get Done
I have been a list maker for as long as I can remember. I am a project manager at my core after all.
At times, I have had three, four or five different lists going. But, those lists – plus the other tasks still rolling around in my head that hadn’t made it to a list, yet – just seemed to get longer and longer and just didn’t get done.
All they really managed to do was cause me increased stress and an overwhelming feeling like I was never accomplishing ANYTHING!
That is until a few years ago when I decided that if it was going to get done, it needed to be on my calendar. This was a total boost to my productivity!
I didn’t totally ditch the “to do” list, but I gave it a different purpose. It became my dumping ground. My “to do” list became the place where I simply put an idea or a task so that I would quit trying not to forget it.
Then, every few days I review the list and schedule out the work that needs to get done, delegate what I don’t have to do personally and move off “great ideas” to a separate list of “someday when I have time and really feel like doing it” kinda list.
When I first started using this system, there were a few steps to it.
- Make the list
- Prioritize the list
- Rewrite the list in order
- Put the top priority tasks in my calendar
- Repeat the next day…
This system has evolved over time. Now, I am able to skip most of these steps because as things come up, they go straight into my calendar. Which reminds me, I need to schedule a few business operating tasks into my calendar.
I still maintain a running list of great ideas and tasks to be scheduled in the Reminders app on my phone.
I keep my grocery list and pharmacy reminders on my Alexa shopping list. So much better than the paper list on the kitchen counter that always gets left behind! It is even more effective because now my husband uses Alexa to add grocery items to the list, too.
There are lots of great apps out there to house your lists, but I have grown quite fond of Reminders. I used Wunderlist in the past.
Here is what is currently on my To Be Scheduled list in the Reminders App.
Once I have scheduled it, I check it off the list and it disappears!
And for those of you who need a little more encouragement that something hasn’t been missed, there is an option in the settings for the Reminders app that will show completed tasks.
Wunderlist has tons of bells and whistles of shared lists and due dates and reminders. But for me, I found there is just nothing better for me than my calendar to get things done!
If you leave it to chance and hope that you will find time to complete the tasks on your To Do List, you will remain overwhelmed and worried that you are going to forget something or miss a due date.
To help you implement this productivity accelerating system, I created this free worksheet that will help you skip some of the trial and error that I went through in the beginning. In this worksheet, I take you step by step through the system I use to get things on my calendar, delegated, or relegated to the “not so important but still need to do it one day” list.
Go grab it now so you can follow along. Just click the image below to download it.
Now that you have your worksheets, let’s walk through the process.
First, dump your To Do list. Write down everything you can think of that is taking up precious focus power in your brain.
Thinking about how you work best (described in the video above), break up your day into 4 sections. I have suggested a logical break, of early morning, morning until lunch, after lunch and evening. You choose the times blocks that work for you.
Then, based on how you work best, assign items in your To Do Dump to different times of the day.
Now that you have decided which time of day best fits the type of task on your To Do List, schedule it! Look at the next 3 days and make a decision on when you will do an item on your list. If a task can be delegated to someone else (a spouse, child or co-worker) put it in the delegate box.
As you schedule a task, mark it off the list. If an item doesn’t have to be done in the next 3 days or can’t be delegated, leave it on the list for now. You will transfer those to a new list that you will add to as you think of things. Then repeat the process every few days to schedule more tasks.
Once you get the hang of it, you can start scheduling things out further and sometimes be scheduling two weeks ahead.
The best part is that once it is scheduled, you don’t have to worry about forgetting to do it. It will get done at the appropriate time. And if something comes up and you have to move it, you now know the best time of day it should be done, so you just move it to a new day. And then forget about it again until it pops up on your calendar!
A word of caution: don’t overschedule. Leave breathing room in your day for tasks that go over or unexpected rush tasks (like your daughter forgot her lunch and you have to run it up to school just as you were going to start designing that IG image). When you leave some wiggle room you can easily adjust without feeling rushed. And of course, you can also move appointments on your calendar that are just with yourself! Just try not to make a big habit of that. It defeats the purpose of “what is scheduled gets done.”
Oh, one other thing. I do look over my calendar every night before I head off to bed. It helps me mentally prepare for the next day and not get into overthinking worry mode as I try to fall asleep.
So, what do you think?
Do you think you can give this a try for 3 weeks and see if it helps boost your productivity?
My mission is to encourage women to trust in themselves in life and in business. With love and faith I lead women business owners to find freedom in their God-given identity so they can live out their purpose with confidence. By helping you set expectations that lead to action, your dreams become a reality!
