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’ve accomplished!

Let’s explore a few ways to enhance your to-do list, using (what else?) a list!

1. 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’ve 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’m 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.

2. Group Similar Items

If you keep your life on one big list like I do, you’re going to want to make it easy for yourself to see what’s 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’m staying on top of, and which areas need a bit more attention.

3. 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 – or how long it will take! Rather than putting something like “Study for Chem Quiz” on your list, break it down into smaller tasks, for example:

• Review CHEM Chapter 2 notes ✓
• Read Chapter 2 of CHEM Textbook ✓
• Self-test for CHEM Chapter 2 ✓

That way, you will have a better sense of your work load and where to get started, and you’ll also get to enjoy the satisfaction of ticking off a few more boxes!

4. It’s okay to have fun!

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got about my to-do list was that it’s 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’t 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!