To-Do List Hacks to Make Great Days in Everyday Life, Part 3

With the busy life you lead you know how important it is to keep your to do list items organized

But more often than not your list ends up running nearly to the floor with every single item you can think of that needs to be done.  We’ve shown you in previous posts how to slim down that list and give your items priority placement. We highlighted Stephen Covey’s 2×2 Grid to help you visualize the urgent and not urgent items on your list. Next, we showed you how to schedule an appointment with yourself to be sure that the highest priority items get their attention at the earlier part of your day maximizing your focus and energy. But now, you still have those little pesky items that still must be attended to.

How To schedule lesser to-do list items:

Once you have scheduled your highest priority items in your to-do list, now you can schedule 30-60 minutes daily (as your schedule permits) to attend to items that still need attention but don’t rank high enough to eat up 90 minutes of your highest performing time slot.  This is categories 3 and 4 from our second post in this series How to Hack Your To-Do list to reduce stress and maximize productivity, The Urgent but Not Important and  The Not Urgent and Not Important.  These categories are items that can eat up your day and leave you unable to accomplish things that matter most. These items must be taken care of but can be either delegated or must be limited to a scheduled time slot each day.

Category 3: Urgent But Not Important:

Delegate what you can and schedule your slot for the items you must do. These items may be things that have a long-range goal, and may not be able to be accomplished in one sitting yet they are goals you seek to accomplish, and therefore it remains on your to-do list.

Some of these lesser to-do list items may include:

• Replying to time-sensitive emails or phone calls that may not be related to your main task for the day.
• Sort Through Physical Mail.
• Being available for appointments such as the cable company, or the Dentist.
• Lose ten pounds before your best friend’s wedding or your class reunion.

Category 4: Not Urgent and Not Important

These are things you may hope to do but life doesn’t depend on them happening. Category 4 is often referred to as the “Someday- Maybe List”. These items require even less of your completely energized focus.

Some of these to-do list items may include:

• Checking Social Media
• Responding to non-date sensitive email
• Reading Blogs
• Watching a movie you’ve been wanting to see
• Following up with a book recommendation from a friend.
• Researching a hobby.
• Learn to Surf! – Something you may hope to do…one day.

Following these tips to schedule lesser to-do list items allows you to ensure these items that seem to nag at you do actually get completed and not pushed to the bottom of the list each day.  You can finish your day with confidence knowing that those little items will get attended to. And you won’t have to feel guilty for not completing your tasks.

Make It a Great Day Bags focuses on helping you make the most of your days.

This simple calendar hack of scheduling your most important work will dramatically improve your productivity and reduce stress. By the end of the day, rather than feeling stressed over the things you didn’t accomplish, you will feel successful, having accomplished what mattered most. Now that is making it a great day!  Take your Make it a Great Day bag with you and put it to work on what matters most.