Aug. 21, 2021
Amplify your To-do List
List making is one of my favourite methods to organize myself and keep track of things. Not only does it help with the pressure to keep track of everything, I also find it motivating to be able to check the items off my list and see what I鈥檝e accomplished!
Let鈥檚 explore a few ways to enhance your to-do list, using (what else?) a list!
- Prioritize
Do you ever find you make a long to-do list, and then immediately start chipping away on unimportant or non-urgent tasks? Or, do you make a to-do list that is impossibly long and feel defeated when you are unable to complete every item you wrote down? Something I鈥檝e recently found helpful is to prioritize my weekly task list. Whenever I sit down to work on something, I pick my top 3 items to focus on. That way, I know I鈥檓 working on the most important tasks, and I know I have a bit of flexibility in case my motivation dips and I need to change things up.
- Group Similar Items
If you keep your life on one big list like I do, you鈥檙e going to want to make it easy for yourself to see what鈥檚 going on in the different areas of your life (work, school, chores, etc..). I like to use a different colour pen or highlighter for the different areas of my life, that way I can see which areas I鈥檓 staying on top of, and which areas need a bit more attention.
- Break it down
Task lists can be a great way to stay organized and keep motivated, but if your list items are too broad, it can be hard to get a clear picture of what exactly needs to get done 鈥 or how long it will take! Rather than putting something like 鈥淪tudy for Chem Quiz鈥 on your list, break it down into smaller tasks, for example:
- Review CHEM Chapter 2 notes 鉁
- Read Chapter 2 of CHEM Textbook 鉁
- Self-test for CHEM Chapter 2 鉁
That way, you will have a better sense of your work load and where to get started, and you鈥檒l also get to enjoy the satisfaction of ticking off a few more boxes!
- It鈥檚 okay to have fun!
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got about my to-do list was that it鈥檚 okay to put non-work items on your list. Knowing that you have some fun items on your to do list helps to ensure balance in your life, and makes it so that looking at your list isn鈥檛 automatically associated with work, chores, or obligations (how demotivating!).
Still looking for some inspiration? Book with the academic support team for one-on-one task list support!