First and foremost – this Stanley Cup Game 6 is giving me anxiety. Â First, the ‘Hawks score. Â Then the Flyers score. Â Flyers score again, and Blackhawks tie it up.
For goodness’ sake Fly-guys, please just win this. Â And win the next one.
Back to the point of the post. Â The To-Do list. Â We all have them, whether we write it down/slash out completed items (guilty), enter them into our smartphones, or just have a mental list running in our heads. Â I’m of the write it down-slash it out camp, as I find something therapeutic in crossing out a completed item. Â Makes me feel more productive about my day.
I used to write my lists on Post-Its or various notepads lying on my desk, but it was more ineffective than useful in helping me accomplish my tasks for the day. Â When I typed my weekly and monthly status reports to my management team, I found myself racking my brain and searching through the “Sent” folder of my email instead of referring to a checked-off list of accomplishments. Â Something had to give. Â Something need to get done.
It was fortuitous that I caught up with Penelope Trunk’s blog and read this post. Â And then read this post that it referred to. Â And finally learned the crucial ABC’s of To-Do Lists.
Here’s how it goes:
Use a notebook solely for To-Dos. Â It keeps your lists together and helps you organize your completed tasks and activities during those crucial review periods. Â Once you have your designated notebook, fold a page into thirds lengthwise, date the page, and label the columns “A”, “B”, and “C”.
Start populating tasks into each column. Â The key activities should be placed in column A, whereas the “nice to get around to doing them” tasks should be in column C. Â Column B needs to be a healthy mix of the two.
Get your ish done, and then cross it out once completed. Â It’s fine to add more tasks onto your list throughout the day, and to use arrows to move a task to a different column. Â The first time you use this system, you’ll find yourself overloading the “A” column and the “B” and “C”‘s pretty much empty. Â It’s okay…I won’t tell Penelope.
Make sure you cross out tasks with a single line so you can read the task you’ve accomplished – no scribbling out. Â Not all activities are created equal, so don’t be afraid to put things in the “B” and “C” column or listing sub-activities under a main task. Â Tailor the system to you; no activity-monitoring system is perfect. Â And be diligent; the more you write out a to-do list as the start of your day, the better organized you will be during your day. Â I put all my activities on my list, from work tasks to wedding activities to errands. Â I list my meetings, my follow-up calls, and even reminders to check my voicemail on the To-Do list to remind myself of the mundane tasks I would otherwise forget. Â Tailor the list to your needs, and as long as you keep it to a page you are fine. Â Create a new page for a new day to give yourself a fresh start each day.
The ABC To-Do list has helped me out immensely in the past month, and I hope it does the same for you. Â Good luck. Â And GO FLYERS!
