Focal length: Keeping your to-do list in check

They say “Work expands to fill time”… but sometimes the work expands so much, it overflows. Managing all you ‘to do’ items can be tricky and often anxiety-inducing. Even if you have a system in place, that too can get out of hand and cause you more problems than you would like.

As I’ve talked about before, I have developed a method that works for me. Despite being a ‘tech guy’, I use a pad and pen for my daily ‘to do’ list. I’ve tried digital lists and even spider diagrams, but nothing quite beats having a physical item sat on my desk as reference each day. I write my list at the end of every day around 5pm, and it helps me to clear my head and prepare for the following day.

"I sometimes have a tendency to over-commit"

So far, so good. However, I sometimes have a tendency to over-commit. That being, I believe I can get more done in a day than is really possible. I usually set myself a limit of ‘10 things’ each day… but the downside of that is the tasks aren’t always of the same size (time or complexity). The result being that often tasks shift from one day to the next, either because I didn’t get a chance to start them at all, or I only managed a few sub-tasks because I was context-switching.

I have been finding this increasingly frustrating and leads to days of feeling like I hadn’t achieved much at all. I tried using a highlighter to focus myself on the key things to be done, but that didn’t help much. The ‘task landscape’ was still too broad.

I didn’t reinvent what I do, but instead I created a ‘Focus list’? How does THAT work, I hear you ask? Well I’m glad you did. Basically, if I get to midday and feel like I’m not progressing my list, I pick 2-3 items off my list and write them on a Post-it note. I close my notebook and put the Post-it on the cover of the book… this is my set of goals for the afternoon and nothing else can happen until I’ve done those items on the list.

Yes, it’s a little bit of an ‘Inception’ for to-do lists, but it seems to work. Once the Post-It is complete, it goes into the recycling and I open my notebook back up again… first job being to cross those items off my list. By extracting those core items from the main list, I am able to focus on them and nothing else… removing any kind of distractions from my meeting notes or other items on the list shouting “Pick me”.

"Items on the list shouting “Pick me”

Having done this a few times over the last 2 weeks I have found it really helps productivity and my own sense of achievement each day. Clearly there are many other methods to help with this… one I discovered yesterday was the Eisenhower Matrix which helps you categorise and prioritise tasks that you need to do.

What methods do you use to prioritise your work and ensure you are getting that sense of achievement?