Practical Tips to Get the Most from Your To Do List

Good morning! We are back today with a guest post from Irene Zuccarello. She shares some gems that have helped her stay focused and accomplish more during her day. I have already started implementing some of her tips into my routine. I felt truly inspired when I received her post in my inbox on the same day I received the following quote by Anne Frank in my inbox from Real Simple, “Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.” So true! - Kerry ♥

Photo by Cupcakes and Cashmere

Is it really necessary to have a To Do List?

What should it contain to be effective?

How should I use it to get concrete results?

These seem to be the most burning questions around the topic, so I’m going to give you some answers and some practical tips that I use everyday that I’m sure will help you get concrete results for your projects too.

1) Yes, it’s really necessary to have it written down somewhere.

Projects and all their goals are always composed of many many tasks.

Do you try to keep everything in your mind and organize it all there?

If you don’t use lists, I’m sure you’ve experienced the craziness and the big mess that comes from being unorganized and unfocused, which may lead to all your not-achieved goals.

You get the idea.

TIP: You can use a simple notebook or, if you like to be a bit more “nerdie” like me, you can use some programs and tools that will help you organize your lists.

Here are some free resources I like: Ta-Da List, Remember The Milk (this tool is also available for Google Calendar. Take a look here), Time-Tracker.
Some of them can also be used on the iPhone, iPad, etc. and can be syncronized – I find it’s really useful.

2) It should contain ALL the tasks you need to accomplish to reach your goals.

You have to periodically spend some of your time brainstorming about your projects and the relative goals. The ones you need to achieve to make your dreams a reality.

This is a very crucial step and you will need to do periodic revisions and adjustments as the project goes on. It doesn’t matter what your project is about, this rule applies to anything.

TIP: Your dreams should be big and so are your goals. You always need to break them down into smaller goals. Then, break down these smaller goals into tasks. Again, break down these tasks into smaller and more specific actions to create your daily to do list.

3) You must follow these steps and try to make them your routine.

• Define your “brainstorming” moments

You can dedicate to it an hour every week, a couple of hours every month and a whole day or more, every year. I suggest you mark/schedule these moments in a calendar.
This will let you periodically re-focus and re-adjust your goals and tasks in relation to the growth and progress of your project.

From this first step you should come up with a list of tasks. We can call them “general tasks”.

• Break down general tasks into very specific tasks

What does it mean?

Your mind has to be as free as possible from things to remember and manage.
To make this possible, you need to break down your general tasks into very specific actions.

For example, if you have to contact a seller don’t just write “Contact Mary Brown”, instead be specific as possible with something like “Write an email to Mary Brown and answer her questions about shipping and the gift package option”.

In this way, your mind is free from distractions and you can focus on other things instead of being constantly stressed and losing energy trying to remember all these details.

Every specific task of your to do list should contains just one action.

• Keep it short and realistic

Your daily list should contain a number of actions that you are realistically able to accomplish. Just make some tests, and find your “right number” of tasks in relation to what they are and how much time you can dedicate to them each day.
Mine are currently between 5 to 10.

• Set a priority order

It’s important you write down your list giving a priority order to your single tasks.

In this way you’ll have the most important and urgent things surely done by the end of the day.
No risk of forgetting something and suddenly in a panic.

• Eliminate tasks that are there for too long or reformulate them

If there are tasks that are on your list for too long you need to figure out if they are actually important tasks or not.

Sometimes as the project grows and changes, some tasks are no longer relevant for the purpose that arises, or they need to be reformulated.

• As you do things, check them off the list

Well, this is a thing that I personally love to do.

Seeing all the tasks checked off the list makes me feel good.
Then it gives that sense of satisfaction and commitment that encourages us to do more and do it better.

TIP: To help you to make this your routine – in addition to scheduling your “brainstorming moment” – I strongly suggest you prepare your daily to do list at least one day before.

This way, when you wake up in the morning, you’ll have your list ready and you can immediately start working on it without losing time thinking and reorganizing ideas.

Are you already using lists?
What additional suggestions can you give to the other creative entrepreneurs out there?

I’d be happy to hear what you find indispensable in your own routine.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
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