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to do lists?
How To Do a To Do List (Fueled by GTD)
What is a to do list?
For those of us who’ve been using a task management system (such as David Allen’s Getting Things Done) for a while, this question might seem silly. “Grab a pencil and paper, write down your tasks, and check off things you finish” – that’s an easy answer, but I believe the average to do list can be more efficient than that.
Here’s my no frills recommendation for how to do a to do list:
What you need
Two sheets of paper and a pen.
What to do
- Collect. The first sheet of paper is for getting the stuff out of your head – without prioritizing. Just write down what you need to do and make sure to leave some space on the right side of the page (we’ll need that later).
- Break things down. Now scan your list. Can these tasks be broken down into smaller pieces? If yes, scratch off those items and at the end of your list, write out the smaller pieces. Having smaller tasks makes it easier to overcome procrastination.
- Identify contexts. Scan your list one more time and in the space you left on the right side, write one word that describes where the task should be done. If it’s an errand, write “errand”. If it’s at home, write “home”.
- Choose your battles wisely. Now on your second sheet of paper, write down a few tasks, grouped by context, that you can truly do today. Try to avoid “organizer’s optimism” and keep your today list short.
- Choose your battle ground. With your tasks grouped by context, you’re prepared to batch process. Get yourself to that context (if they are errands, let’s say, hop in the car) or choose one that matches where you are currently.
- Do something. Start completing tasks until you’re ready for the next context. Cross out those you’ve done. Move on to other contexts and keep whittling away until you’ve completed everything on your list.
Now do even more
The above is a hit-the-ground-running approach for creating and doing to do lists, but you can benefit even more by adopting some task management principles and learning about a few systems. There are also plenty of to do software offerings, if that appeals to you, for desktops and mobile phones.
I’d love to hear your questions and feedback so don’t be shy about commenting!
So you are back to pen and paper?
Nope, just thought I’d write outside of my norm a bit. Currently I’m using a radically different GTD-based Evernote system. Still experimenting.
Radically different? What are the main differences compared to the pen and paper method suggested in this article?
P.S.: Would be cool if we could subscribe to new comments or replies in your blog. In planning stage?
Radically different compared to the Evernote + GTD system I’ve been outlining as of late. Had a bit of an epiphany and am building on GTD principles without the trappings of trying to duplicate GTD apps with Evernote notes, stacks, and notebooks. Keeping my ideas close to my chest while I experiment.
In other words, not really related to the above.
I wrote this post for people who might not know anything about GTD. I wanted to try and embed some GTD principles without overwhelming anyone with everything that comes with the system.
As for new comments/replies RSS feed (which is what I assume you mean), I’ll see if I can get that done this morning.
FYI: added a comment feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CommentsForHanamiDesign
Great, thanks man.