Jump Start January: Week 3 Day 3

Today’s activity is a very quick and simple way to kill your to-do list. In simple terms, we’re going to vanquish the evil beast by cutting off its head. And it’s lovely weather for a slay ride together with yo-uuu. Ahem.

If you’re a diligent sort of person you might be adding to your to do list on a regular basis, so that you don’t forget anything important, even the small stuff. This note taking and list making certainly has its advantages, but in the real world it can be difficult to keep up with ticking each item off. The list starts to grow and grow…

Once a to-do list reaches a certain size, it can make you feel panicky every time you look at it. This in turn can lead you to stop looking at it. Neither of these scenarios are particularly good or helpful, and life’s stressful enough at times so why make it worse.

Today, look at the three most important items on your to-to list, and write them on a separate list for the day. One easy way to keep it manageable is to write it on a standard sized Post-It note, and have it stuck to the front of your organiser or the back of your mobile phone. Now work on these three items, plus your related admin (always the 4th item on the list – because it generally takes up more time than we remember to allocate) during the day.

You have effectively beheaded your to-do list. Triumphant return home to the villagers is optional.

If you like, you can also subdivide the remains of your list into ‘best sorted out within one week’ and ‘nice to do but not urgent this week’. But the mead and feasting thing in the great hall is probably going to be more fun – just slayin’.

Do you have any tips of your own for keeping to-do lists under control, and getting tasks completed? Please share!