How to Complete Your To-Do List in 5 Steps
We all get overwhelmed by out to-do lists every now and then. The tasks keep piling up and there seems to be less time each day. When this happens, I, like many others fall into the bad habit of dreading the to-do list so much that I end up spending more time thinking about all of the tasks I have to do than it would take to just do the tasks.
For this month, I’ve decided that I’m going to finish my to-do list, or get pretty close.
Step 1: Write out tasks
Dishes
Laundry
Clean the bathroom
Vacuum Upstairs
Vacuum the Stairs
Scrub litter box
Clean kitchen counters/floors
Hose down front of house
Wash car
Fix/sand walls and corners
Repaint baseboards
Repaint sanded walls
Reconcile Bank Accounts
Sweep and Hose Garage
Dust the tops of fans
Dust low surfaces
Put away desk supplies in office
Patch holes in kitchen
Step 2: Reorganize the tasks into two columns – One column for tasks that take under 15 minutes to complete, and one for tasks that take over 15 minutes to complete.
| Tasks < 15 minutes Dishes Clean the bathroom Hose down front of house Repaint sanded walls Sweep and Hose Garage Dust the tops of fans Put away desk supplies in office Dust low surfaces |
Tasks > 15 minutes Laundry Scrub litter box Vacuum the whole house Clean kitchen counters/floors Wash car Fix/sand walls, corners, holes Repaint baseboards Reconcile Bank Accounts |
Step 3: Organize each column from most important to least important and combining similar items.
| Tasks < 15 minutes Dishes Clean the bathroom Put away desk supplies in office Dust the tops of fans Hose down front of house Repaint sanded walls Dust low surfaces Sweep and Hose Garage |
Tasks > 15 minutes Laundry Scrub litter box Vacuum the Whole House Clean kitchen counters/floors Wash car Fix/sand walls, corners, holes Repaint baseboards Reconcile Bank Accounts |
Step 4: Each day, complete the top item from each column or do a few similar items (such as all painting in one day)
Ex:
Day 1: Dishes & Laundry
Day 2: Clean the bathroom and scrub the litter box
Day 3: Put away desk supplies in office & Vacuum the house
Step 5 – Be Flexible with your to-do list
There are always things that come up that either need to be added to the to-do list or can take away time from completing items on the to-do list. The most important thing is to be flexible and willing to make adjustments to the to-do list when necessary. If you know you won’t be able to do anything off of the to-do list, plan ahead and do a few extra tasks one day. As long as you are consistently making progress, the to-do list will no longer run your life!
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