To Do List: Tips on Living A More Organized Life

No matter at home or in the office, we have to deal with all kinds of tasks every day. How to arrange these tasks directly affects how efficiently and orderly we live our life. Some people speed up the time to finish them, while others ask friends for help. But anyhow, the most useful way is to tackle things with a to-do list.

1. Rank things according to the importance

Think out things you have to do today, during the latest week, and in the long term. Then you can include them respectively in a daily list, a weekly list, and a master list. Note that things in the daily list should be the most urgent, so take notice from time to time if you need to pick some items from the other two lists to the daily list.

Start the list with one or two most important items to make sure you won’t end up the day feeling doing anything. Also do easy tasks and hard ones alternatively, so that you will feel energetic and productive throughout the day.

2. Carry out plans step by step

When tackling complicated goals like writing a paper, do avoid attempting to finish it within a continuous period, or you would feel too incapable to even take the first step. In fact, you are not defeated by difficulty, but the vague goals you set for yourself. Instead of “write a paper”, try some more specific goals like “determine the topic” and “write the outline”. Divide the whole task into small pieces and finish them step by step.

3. Make it a routine and be flexible

As soon as you have made a to-do list for yourself, fix a time and place to finish every item. For example, laundry 4-6 p.m. at Suds & Stuff. In this way, you will be gradually building a conception that at a certain time and a certain place, you are due to do something. Of course, overdone is worse than undone. Always remember to leave you the flexibility to allow unexpected occasions like computer crashing and the washing machine overflowing. If these things happen, don’t panic. At least you’ve probably finished the most important items of the day, with everything else still under control.

In a word, writing out a bunch of to-do lists helps us live a more efficient and organized life. Tasks arranged properly, we’re left more free time to focus on what is the most important.

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