Mastering Productivity with To-Do Lists

First, write 'write to-do list' at the top, just so you have something to tick off immediately, then list all the things you need to get ______.

“That’s why I don’t like to-do lists – because they become so overwhelming that they’re intimidating and then you never want to look at them,” says Julie Morgenstern, an organizing and productivity expert and the author of Time Management from the Inside Out. “They’re a place to capture tasks, but not execute ______.”

Clare Evans, a time-management and productivity coach, agrees. She doesn’t like calling them 'to-do lists'. “I refer to them as action ______,” she says.

To create an effective action list, fill it with things on which you will truly take action, with achievable goals; don’t create a giant inventory of random, and perhaps unimportant, ______.

List a maximum of 10 tasks for the day. “Realistically, how much can you fit in? It might be five or six things, or only one. Identify the most important thing you need to do today and how long each task is going to ______.”

Roy Baumeister, a professor of psychology at the University of Queensland, advises including 'some easy things as well as the harder ones. You can start right away on a couple of easy ones, get those out of the way, and have a good feeling of making progress.' But given that willpower is limited, you should not squander it all on the easy ones – treat those as ______.

Tasks should be specific and small, says Roy Baumeister. 'Rather than ‘clean out and paint garage’, maybe start with ‘buy paint’ and ‘fill one trash barrel’, and so on.' How many lists?

Morgenstern recommends subdividing the master list to avoid chaos or feeling overwhelmed. 'It could be work versus home life. Within your work, it could be administrative, writing, marketing, and team tasks.' This should help with working through them – once you have ______ them.

Once you have completed some tasks that you had been putting off, should you give yourself a reward? These can be useful 'if there are things you don’t like to do and need to motivate yourself to do,' says Morgenstern. But for most tasks, the satisfaction of getting something done – and the freedom from that nagging feeling – is more than ______.

Morgenstern recommends tackling the task you are least looking forward to first. 'You can start right away on a couple of easy ones, get those out of the way, and have a good feeling of making progress.' Tasks should be specific and small, she says. 'Rather than ‘clean out and paint garage’, maybe start with ‘buy paint’ and ‘fill one trash barrel’, and so on.' How many lists?