HOW I MAKE MY DAILY TO DO LISTS
Hey everyone, welcome back to The Dairy Free Diaries. Hope you all are doing well and are excited for this week’s blog post. I am going to go into detail how I make my to do lists. I know some people may think to do lists are so small and innocuous, but they have really helped me on a day-to-day basis. It is such a small little habit that has an incredible effect on my day. And after all, they say that the smallest things have the largest impact, and this is one of those instances.
ORDERING AND GROUPING MY TASKS
Okay, so I am going to try to explain this in as much detail as possible can because the way I structure my to do lists is very specific and I want you all to get every little detail. In order to do so, I am going to be giving a lot of examples so keep that in mind so you won’t get a little lost haha. Okay, so first order of business is to create a master list of all the tasks you would like to get done on a specific day. They don’t have to be in any particular order or in any particular place. I like to keep an ongoing list in the Notes app of my phone for random tasks that need to be done. Okay so you have your master list, what’s next you ask? Now you are going to do some ordering. I like to do this by assigning each task a number, 1-10/20/30 etc., based on importance.
If there is something that has a deadline fast approaching, I will assign it number 1 and if there is a little task that I would like to get done but don’t necessarily have to get done that day I will assign it a much later number. What’s important here is that you rank your tasks based on what most and least needs to get done, NOT what do you feel like or want to do the most or least. This distinction is critical because I often catch myself doing the tasks that sound fun to me, instead of prioritizing time for tasks that need to be done. So, once you are finished ordering your tasks from most to least important, you are going to group them in a different way. Your new categories are morning tasks, afternoon tasks, and night time tasks.
This one is all based on personal preference, but here are some tips to be as efficient as possible. Schedule your most important tasks either in the morning or when you are the most motivated/productive. For me, I am more motivated to get stuff done in the morning, so that is where I group those tasks. For your categories, I would suggest to add in different types of tasks in each place. For example, if you have scheduled studying and homework in the afternoon, add in some fun or less demanding tasks like doing laundry or reading a chapter of your favorite book. I have found that when I don’t balance my tasks within these groups I start to feel burnt out and it carries into the rest of my day. And when I mix up the types of tasks I am doing, it keeps me entertained because I am utilizing different parts of my brain. It may sound a little crazy, but it works trust me!
Okay, so I know you guys might be getting tired of this, but guess what, we have one LAST grouping session. If you don’t take away anything from this post, I hope this is the one thing you carry into your life. I know you have probably heard of time batching, but I have found that it is too restrictive for myself, so I made a modification that works AMAZING. I will group my tasks according to loose timeframes. For example, in the morning here are my timeframes: 6am, 9am, and 11am.
So, I will assign tasks under each of these timeframes, but it’s important to stay realistic. You can only get so much done during a specific time so be honest with yourself. Anyways, this use of loose timeframes is perfect for me because it keeps me on a rough timeframe while also providing more flexibility for tasks than time batching every single hour of the day. Ultimately, it is up to personal preference, but if you are looking to try other ways of organizing your daily tasks, I highly recommend trying this technique out. It has completely changed my life and it is the technique that is working for me in this moment.
WHERE DO I KEEP MY LIST?
So now that you know how I structure my to do lists you need to know where. I personally use the notes app on my phone. I am constantly on the go between work and home, which makes it the most convenient for me to keep my list on my phone. I also utilize the circular checkboxes in the notes app as well as the ability to bold or underline specific headings.
All of which allow me to keep my tasks organized. In the past, I have used and really enjoyed a paper planner, but that just isn’t realistic for me right now. I suggest that you try out a bunch of different methods and see which one sticks for you. Some options that have worked for me at various points in my life include: paper planners, notes app, paper notepad or notebook, google calendar, and apple calendar.
